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The  Postal  System 
of  The  United  States 

and 

The  New  York 
General  Post  Office 


Prepared  and  Issued  by 

_Manufacturers  Trust  Company 

"NewYork.  Brooklyn  Queens 


THE  POSTAL  SYSTEM 
OF  THE   UNITED  STATES 

AND 

THE  NEW  YORK 
GENERAL  POST  OFFICE 

BY 

THOMAS  C.  JEFFERIES 

ASSISTANT  SECRETARY, 
MANUFACTURERS  TRUST  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1922,  by 
MANUFACTURERS  TRUST  COMPANY 


HONORABLE  HUBERT  WORK,  Postmaster-General, 
was  a  practising  physician  for  many  years  in 
Colorado  prior  to  entering  government  service, 
and  was  also  President  of  the  American  Medical 
Association.  He  served  as  first  assistant  post- 
master-general under  Postmaster-General  Will 
H.  Hays,  his  predecessor,  who,  upon  assuming 
management  of  the  Post-office  Department,  prac- 
tically dedicated  it  as  an  institution  for  service 
and  not  for  politics  or  profit.  Since  that  time  all 
possible  efforts  have  been  made  to  humanize  it. 

The  administration  of  Mr.  Hays  was  ably  as- 
sisted by  Mr.  Work  who  had  direct  supervision 
of  the  52,000  post-offices  and  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  all  postal  workers.  By  persistent  efforts 
to  build  up  the  spirit  of  the  great  army  of  postal 
workers  and  bring  the  public  and  the  post-office 
into  closer  contact  and  more  intimate  relationship, 
the  postal  system  has  been  placed  at  last  on  a 
footing  of  service  to  the  public. 

Mr.  Work  is  an  exponent  of  a  business  admin- 
istration of  the  postal  service,  and  representatives 
of  the  larger  business  organizations  and  Chambers 
of  Commerce,  from  time  to  time,  are  called  into 
conference,  in  order  that  the  benefit  of  their  sug- 
gestions and  their  experience  may  be  obtained 
and  their  fullest  co-operation  enlisted  in  the  cam- 
paign for  postal  improvement. 


518613 


'Messenger  of  Sympathy  and  Love 
Servant  of  Parted  Friends 
Consoler  of  the  Lonely 
Bond  of  the  Scattered  Family 
Enlarger  of  the  Common  Life 
Carrier  of  News  and  Knowledge 
Instruments  of  Trade  and  Industry 
Promoter  of  Mutual  Acquaintance 
Of  Peace  and  Qood  Will 
Among  Men  and  Nations." 

Inscription  on  Post  Office  Building 
at  Washington,  D.  C. 


Statement  Prepared  for  the 

Manufacturers  Trust  Company 

BY  HONORABLE  HUBERT  WORK,  POSTMASTER-GENERAL 

THE  need  for  a  more  general  understanding  of 
the  purpose  of  the  postal  establishment,  its  in- 
ternal workings  and  the  problems  of  operation, 
is  paramount  if  it  is  to  afford  the  ultimate  service  which 
it  is  prepared  to  render. 

The  business  man,  whose  success  is  definitely  con- 
nected with  its  smooth  operation,  especially  should  be 
concerned  with  the  directions  for  its  use.  The  post- 
office  functions  automatically,  so  far  as  he  is  concerned, 
after  he  drops  the  letter  into  the  slot;  but  before  this 
stage  is  reached,  a  certain  amount  of  preparation  is 
necessary.  He  could  scarcely  expect  to  operate  an 
intricate  piece  of  machinery  without  first  learning  the 
various  controls,  and  no  more  is  it  to  be  expected  that 
he  can  secure  the  utmost  benefit  from  such  a  diversi- 
fied utility  as  the  postal  service  without  knowing  how 
to  use  the  parts  at  his  disposal. 

Accordingly  our  efforts  have  been  directed  to  the  cir- 
culation of  essential  postal  information,  and  with  the 
aid  of  the  public  press  and  the  cooperation  of  persons 
and  organizations  using  the  service,  the  people  through- 
out the  country  are  now  better  informed  on  postal  af- 
fairs than  at  any  time  in  its  history. 

The  recognition  of  the  human  element  is  a  recent 
forward  step  in  postal  administration.  Although  the 
post-office  has  probably  been  the  most  powerful  aid  to 
tlje  development  of  a  social  consciousness,  the  manage- 

[5] 


ment  until  recently  seems  to  have  overlooked  the  rela- 
tive value  of  the  individual  in  the  postal  organism. 

The  individual  postal  worker  is  now  considered  to  be 
the  unit,  and  the  effort  to  maintain  the  service  at  a  high 
standard  of  efficiency  is  based  upon  the  betterment  of 
his  physical  environment  and  the  encouragement  of 
the  spirit  of  partnership  by  enlisting  his  intelligent  in- 
terest in  the  problems  of  management  and  recognizing 
his  real  value  to  the  postal  organization.  Suggestions 
for  improvement  are  invited  and  considered  from  those 
within  the  service  as  well  as  those  without,  and  it  is 
believed  that  a  full  measure  of  usefulness  will  not  be 
attained  until  the  American  public,  which  in  this  sense 
includes  the  postal  workers  themselves,  are  convinced 
that  the  service  belongs  to  them. 


[6] 


GENERAL  OFFICERS  OF  THE  POST- 
OFFICE  DEPARTMENT 

The  postmaster-general  is  assisted  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Post-office  Department  by  four  assistant 
postmasters-general.  The  first  assistant  postmaster- 
general  has  supervision  over  the  postmasters,  post-office 
clerks,  and  city  letter  carriers  at  all  post-offices,  as  well 
as  the  general  management  of  the  postal  business  of 
those  offices,  the  collection,  delivery,  and  preparation 
of  mail  for  despatch.  The  second  assistant  postmaster- 
general  is  concerned  entirely  with  the  transportation  of 
mail  by  rail  (both  steam  and  electric),  by  air,  and  by 
water.  He  supervises  the  railway  mail,  air  mail,  foreign 
mail  services,  and  adjusts  the  pay  for  carrying  the  mail. 
The  third  assistant  postmaster-general  is  the  financial 
official  of  the  department  and  has  charge  of  the  money- 
order  and  registry  service,  the  distribution  of  postage- 
stamps,  and  the  classification  of  mail  matter.  The 
fourth  assistant  postmaster-general  directs  the  opera- 
tion of  the  rural  delivery  service,  the  distribution  of 
supplies,  and  the  furnishing  of  equipment  for  the  post- 
offices  and  railway  mail  service. 

In  addition  to  the  four  assistants  there  is  a  solicitor, 
or  legal  officer;  a  chief  post-office  inspector,  who  has 
jurisdiction  over  the  traveling  inspectors  engaged  in 
inspecting,  tracing  lost  mail,  and  investigating  mail 
depredations,  or  other  misuse  of  the  mail;  a  purchasing 
agent;  a  chief  clerk,  who  supervises  the  clerical  force 
at  headquarters  in  Washington;  and  a  controller,  who 
audits  the  accounts  of  the  52,000  postmasters. 


[7] 


The  Postmaster  General  and  General  Administration  Assistants. 

\ — HON.  HUBERT  WORK,  Postmaster  General 
2— HON.  JOHN  H.  BARTLETT,  First  Assist-     3— HON.    PAUL   HENDERSON,   Second  As- 

ant  Postmaster  General.  sistant  Postmaster  General. 

4— HON.  W.   IRVING  GLOVER,    Third  As-     5— HON.  H.  H.  BILLANY,  Fourth  Assistant 
sistant  Postmaster  General.  Postmaster  General. 


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The  Post-office  of  General  Concern 

There  is  no  governmental  activity  that  comes  so  uni- 
formly into  intimate  daily  contact  with  different  classes 
of  this  country's  inhabitants,  nor  one  the  functioning 
of  which  touches  practically  the  country's  entire  popu- 
lation, as  does  the  United  States  postal  system.  Mr. 
Daniel  G.  Roper,  in  a  volume  highly  regarded  by  postal 
executives,  entitled  'The  United  States  Post-Office," 
called  the  postal  service  "the  mightiest  instrument  of 
human  democracy."  iThis  system,  as  we  know  it  to- 
day, represents  the  growth,  development,  and  improve- 
ment of  over  a  century  and  a  third.  In  the  last  seventy- 
five  years  this  growth  has  been  particularly  marked] 
the  total  number  of  pieces  of  all  kinds  of  mail  matter 
handled  in  1847,  for  instance,  was  124,173,480;  in  1913 
it  was  estimated  that  18,567,445,160  pieces  were  han- 
dled, and  to-day  about  1,500,000,000  letters  are  handled 
every  hour  in  the  postal  service.  In  1790  the  gross 
postal  revenues  were  $38,000  in  round  numbers  and  the 
expenditures  $32,000.  In  1840  the  revenues  were  $4,- 
543,500  and  expenditures  $4,718,200.  In  1890  the 
revenues  were  $60,880,000  and  the  expenditures  $66,- 
260,000.  In  1912  the  revenues  were  $247,000,000  and 
the  expenditures  $248,500,000. 

The  revenue  of  the  postal  service  for  the  fiscal  year 
ending  June  30,  1921,  including  fees  from  money-orders 
and  profits  from  postal-savings  business,  amounted  to 
$463,491,274.70,  an  increase  of  $26,341,062.37  over  the 
receipts  for  the  preceding  fiscal  year,  which  were  $437,- 
150,212.33.  The  rate  of  increase  in  receipts  for  1921 
over  1920  was  6.02  per  cent.,  as  compared  with  an  in- 
crease in  1920  over  1919  of  19.81  per  cent. 

[11] 


The  audited  expenditures  for  the  year  were  $620,- 
993,673.65,  an  increase  over  the  preceding  year  of 
$166,671,064.44,  the  rate  of  increase  being  36.68  per 
cent.  The  audited  expenditures  for  the  fiscal  year  were 
therefore  in  excess  of  the  revenues  in  the  sum  of  $i  57,- 
502,398.95,  to  which  should  be  added  losses  of  postal 
funds,  by  fire,  burglary,  and  other  causes,  amounting  to 
$15,289.16,  making  a  total  audited  deficiency  in  postal 
revenues  of  $  1 57, 5 1 7,688. 1 1 .  The  material  increase  in 
the  deficiency  over  that  for  1920  was  due  to  large  in- 
creases of  expenditures  made  necessary  by  reason  of 
the  re-classification  act  allowing  increased  compensa- 
tion estimated  at  $41,855,000  to  postal  employees,  and 
to  increased  allowances  of  more  than  $30,000,000  for 
railroad  mail  transportation  resulting  from  orders  of 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  under  authority 
of  Congress. 

The  revenues  of  this  department  are  accounted  for 
to  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  and  the  postmas- 
ter-general submits  to  Congress  itemized  estimates  of 
amounts  necessary  under  different  classifications ;  Con- 
gress, in  turn,  makes  appropriations  as  it  deems  ad- 
visable. 

In  1790  there  were  a  total  of  1 18  officers,  postmas- 
ters, and  employees  of  all  kinds  in  the  postal  service. 
Postmaster-General  Work  to-day  directs  the  activities 
of  nearly  326,000  officers  and  employees.  The  number 
of  post-offices  in  the  United  States  in  1 790  was  seventy- 
five;  in  1840  the  number  had  increased  to  13,468;  in 
1890  it  was  62,401 ;  and  on  January  i,  1922,  there  were 
52,050.  The  greatest  number  of  post-offices  in  exist- 
ence at  one  time  was  76,945,  in  1901,  but  the  extension 
of  rural  delivery  since  its  establishment  in  1896  has 

[12] 


caused,  and  will  probably  continue  to  cause,  a  gradual 
decrease  in  the  number  of  smaller  post-offices. 

The  Post-office  in  Colonial  Times 

The  first  Colonial  postmaster,  Richard  Fairbanks,  con- 
ducted an  office  in  a  house  in  Boston  in  1639  to  receive 
letters  from  ships.  In  1672  Governor  Lovelace  of  New 
York  arranged  for  a  monthly  post  between  New  York 
and  Boston,  which  appears  to  have  been  the  first  post- 
route  officially  established  in  America.  Much  of  this 
route  was  through  wilderness,  and  the  postman  blazed 
the  trees  on  his  way  so  that  travelers  might  follow  his 
path.  This  route,  however,  was  soon  abandoned. 

In  1673  the  Massachusetts  General  Court  provided 
for  certain  payments  to  post  messengers,  although  the 
first  successful  postal  system  established  in  any  of  the 
Colonies  was  that  of  William  Penn,  who,  in  1683,  ap- 
pointed Henry  Waldy  to  keep  a  post,  supply  passengers 
with  horses,  etc.  In  the  following  year  Governor  Dun- 
gan  of  New  York  revived  the  route  that  had  been 
established  by  Governor  Lovelace,  and,  in  addition,  he 
proposed  post-offices  along  the  Atlantic  coast.  In  1687 
a  post  was  started  between  certain  points  in  Connecti- 
cut. The  real  beginning  of  postal  service  in  America 
seems  to  date  from  February  17,  1691,  when  William 
and  Mary  granted  to  Thomas  Neale  authority  to  con- 
duct offices  for  the  receipt  and  despatch  of  letters. 
From  that  time  until  1721  the  postal  system  seems  to 
have  been  under  the  direction  of  Andrew  Hamilton  and 
his  associates.  In  the  latter  year  John  Lloyd  was  ap- 
pointed postmaster-general,  to  be  succeeded  in  1730  by 
Alexander  Spotsward.  Head  Lynch  was  postmaster- 

[13] 


general  from  1739  to  1743,  and  Elliott  Berger  from 
1743  to  1753. 

In  July,  1775,  the  Continental  Congress  established 
its  post-office  with  Benjamin  Franklin  as  its  first  post- 
master-general. Mr.  Franklin  had  been  appointed 
postmaster  of  Philadelphia  in  1737.  Samuel  Osgood, 
of  Massachusetts,  however,  was  the  first  postmaster- 
general  under  the  Constitution  and  Washington's  ad- 
ministration. From  Samuel  Osgood  to  Hubert  Work 
there  have  been  forty-five  postmasters-general,  that 
official  becoming  a  member  of  the  President's  cabinet 
in  1829. 

Fast  Mails  of  Pioneer  Days 

Post-riders  and  stage-coaches  were  the  earliest  means 
of  transporting  the  mails,  to  be  followed  by  steamboats, 
railway  trains,  and,  in  time,  by  airplanes. 

In  considering  our  modern  mailing  methods,  no  fea- 
ture of  the  development  of  our  postal  system  is  more 
striking  than  the  improvement  that  has  been  made  in 
methods  of  mail  transportation. 

Up  to  a  few  decades  ago,  pony  express  riders  sped 
across  the  western  part  of  our  country,  and  back,  carry- 
ing the  "fast  mail"  of  the  days  when  Indians  and  road- 
agents  constituted  a  continual  source  of  annoyance  and 
danger  to  stage-coach  passengers  and  drivers,  and  made 
the  transportation  of  valuables  extremely  hazardous. 
The  coaches  carried  baggage,  express,  and  "slow  mail," 
as  well  as  passengers,  while  the  "fast  mail"  was  handled 
exclusively  by  pony  riders.  . 

The  inimitable  Mark  Twain  has  given  us  a  great 
word-picture  of  these  pony  express  riders,  from  which 
we  quote  the  following : 

[14] 


In  a  little  while  all  interest  was  taken  up  in  stretching  our 
necks  and  watching  for  the  "pony  rider" — the  fleet  messenger 
who  sped  across  the  continent  from  St.  Joe  to  Sacramento,  carry- 
ing letters  nineteen  hundred  miles  in  eight  days!  Think  of  that 
for  perishable  horse  and  human  flesh  and  blood  to  do!  The 
pony  rider  was  usually  a  little  bit  of  a  man,  brimful  of  spirit 
and  endurance.  No  matter  what  time  of  the  day  or  night  his 
watch  came  on,  and  no  matter  whether  it  was  winter  or  summer, 
raining,  snowing,  hailing,  or  sleeting,  or  whether  his  "beat"  was 
a  level  straight  road  or  a  crazy  trail  over  mountain  crags  and 
precipices,  or  whether  it  led  through  peaceful  regions  or  regions 
that  swarmed  with  hostile  Indians,  he  must  be  always  ready  to 
leap  into  the  saddle  and  be  off  like  the  wind!  There  was  no 
idling  time  for  a  pony  rider  on  duty.  He  rode  fifty  miles  with- 
out stopping,  by  daylight,  moonlight,  starlight,  or  through  the 
blackness  of  darkness — just  as  it  happened.  He  rode  a  splendid 
horse  that  was  born  for  a  racer  and  fed  and  lodged  like  a  gentle- 
man; kept  him  at  his  utmost  speed  for  ten  miles,  and  then,  as 
he  came  crashing  up  to  the  station  where  stood  two  men  holding 
fast  a  fresh,  impatient  steed,  the  transfer  of  rider  and  mail-bag 
was  made  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  and  away  flew  the  eager 
pair  and  they  were  out  of  sight  before  the  spectator  could  get 
hardly  the  ghost  of  a  look.  The  postage  on  his  literary  freight 
was  worth  five  dollars  a  letter.  He  got  but  little  frivolous  cor- 
respondence to  carry — his  bag  had  business  letters  in  it,  mostly. 
His  horse  was  stripped  of  all  unnecessary  weight,  too.  He  wore 
a  little  wafer  of  a  racing-saddle,  and  no  visible  blanket.  He 
wore  light  shoes,  or  none  at  all.  The  little  flat  mail-pockets 
strapped  under  the  rider's  thighs  would  each  hold  about  the  bulk 
of  a  child's  primer.  They  held  many  and  many  an  important 
business  chapter  and  newspaper  letter,  but  these  were  written 
on  paper  as  airy  and  thin  as  gold-leaf,  nearly,  and  thus  bulk  and 
weight  were  economized.  The  stage-coach  travelled  about  a  hun- 
dred to  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  a  day  (twenty-four 
hours),  and  the  pony  rider  about  two  hundred  and  fifty.  There 
were  about  eighty  pony  riders  in  the  saddle  all  the  time,  night  and 
day,  stretching  in  a  long  scattering  procession  from  Missouri  to 
California,  forty  flying  eastward,  and  forty  toward  the  west,  and 

[15] 


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[16] 


among  them  making  four  hundred  gallant  horses  earn  a  stirring 
livelihood  and  see  a  deal  of  scenery  every  single  day  in  the  year. 
We  had  had  a  consuming  desire,  from  the  beginning,  to  see  a 
pony  rider,  but  somehow  or  other  all  that  passed  us  and  all 
that  we  met  managed  to  streak  by  in  the  night,  and  so  we  heard 
only  a  whiz  and  a  hail,  and  the  swift  phantom  of  the  desert  was 
gone  before  we  could  get  our  heads  out  of  the  windows.  But  now 
we  were  expecting  one  along  every  moment,  and  would  see  him 
in  broad  daylight.  Presently  the  driver  exclaims: 

"HERE  HE  COMES!" 

Every  neck  is  stretched  further,  and  every  eye  strained  wider. 
Away  across  the  endless  dead  level  of  the  prairie  a  black  speck 
appears  against  the  sky,  and  it  is  plain  that  it  moves.  Well,  I 
should  think  so.  In  a  second  or  two  it  becomes  a  horse  and  rider, 
rising  and  falling,  rising  and  falling — sweeping  toward  us,  nearer 
and  nearer — growing  more  and  more  distinct,  more  and  more 
sharply  defined,  nearer  and  still  nearer,  and  the  flutter  of  the 
hoofs  comes  faintly  to  the  ear — another  instant  and  a  whoop  and 
a  hurrah  from  our  upper  deck,  a  wave  of  the  rider's  hand,  but  no 
reply,  and  man  and  horse  burst  past  our  excited  faces,  and  go 
winging  away  like  a  belated  fragment  of  a  storm! 

So  sudden  is  it  all,  and  so  like  a  flash  of  unreal  fancy,  that  but 
for  the  flake  of  white  foam  left  quivering  and  perishing  on  a 
mail-sack  after  the  vision  had  flashed  by  and  disappeared,  we 
might  have  doubted  whether  we  had  seen  anything  at  all,  maybe. 

Mail   Transportation   To-day 

Mails  are  now  carried  over  about  235,000  miles  of  rail- 
roads. Service  on  the  railroads  is  authorized  and  paid 
for  under  a  space  basis  system  authorized  by  Congress 
and  approved  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission] 
The  present  post-office  organization  dates  from  about 
1836,  as  the  period  that  followed  that  year  was  one  of 
transition  from  stage-coach  to  rail  car  for  the  trans- 
portation of  mails.  As  railway  mail  service  was  in- 

[17] 


creased  and  extended,  sometimes  railroad  companies 
made  arrangements  with  contractors  to  handle  it. 
Occasionally  contracts  were  transferred  to  the  con- 
tractors at  the  same  rates  received  by  the  railroads. 
Frequently  the  compensation  was  divided  pro  rata  as 
far  as  the  railroad  covered  the  route.  It  was  not  un- 
common for  postmasters  in  large  cities  to  make  the 
arrangements  for  the  department.  Naturally  such  a 
lack  of  uniformity  of  procedure  and  control  invited 
irregularities  of  one  kind  or  another,  although  they 
were  for  the  most  part  not  serious  ones,  and  were  even- 
tually corrected  and  a  system  of  standards  and  of  uni- 
fied control  put  into  effect. 

Origin  of  Mail  Classes 

In  1845  any  letter  that  weighed  one  half  ounce  or  less 
was  classified  as  a  single  letter  without  regard  to  the 
number  of  sheets  it  contained;  a  five-cent  rate  was 
charged  for  distances  under  three  miles  and  ten  cents 
for  greater  distances.  In  1847  the  postage-stamp  was 
officially  adopted  and  placed  on  sale  July  i  of  that  year 
at  New  York.  In  the  year  1848,  860,380  postage- 
stamps  were  sold;  in  1890,  2,219,737,060  stamps  were 
sold,  and  in  1921  there  were  issued  to  postmasters 
14,000,000,000  adhesive  stamps,  1,100,000,000  postal 
cards,  2,668,000,000  stamped  envelops,  and  80,800,000 
newspaper  wrappers. 

In  1850  the  rates  were  reduced  to  three  cents  for  any 
distance  less  than  three  hundred  miles,  if  prepaid,  and 
five  cents  if  not  prepaid,  and,  for  a  greater  distance,  six 
cents  if  prepaid  and  ten  cents  if  not  prepaid.  The  pre- 
payment of  postage  was  finally  made  compulsory  in 

[18] 


1855.  In  1863  a  uniform  rate  of  three  cents  for  single 
letters  not  exceeding  one  half  ounce  in  weight  was 
adopted  for  all  distances,  and  twenty  years  later,  in 
1883,  the  two-cent  letter  was  adopted.  In  1917  the 
rates  of  three  cents  on  letters  and  two  cents  for  postal 
cards  were  adopted,  the  extra  cent  in  each  case  being 
for  war  revenue.  On  June  30,  191 9,  however,  the  three- 
cent  letter  rate  and  the  two-cent  postal-card  rate  ex- 
pired by  limitation,  and  the  two-cent  letter  rate  and 
one-cent  postal-card  rate  returned. 

When  the  parcel  post  was  established  in  1913,  and 
the  air  mail  service  was  inaugurated  in  1918,  special 
stamps  were  issued,  although  they  were  soon  discon- 
tinued. Our  friends  who  collect  stamps  may  be  glad 
to  know  that  a  philatelic  stamp  agency  has  been  estab- 
lished under  the  third  assistant  postmaster-general  at 
Washington,  which  sells  to  stamp-collectors  at  the  face- 
value  all  stamps  desired  which  are  in  stock  and  which 
may  have  special  philatelic  value  to  stamp-collectors. 

Emergency  Measures  During  the  War 

As  a  war  measure,  on  July  31,  1918,  by  executive  order 
issued  in  accordance  with  a  Joint  Resolution  of  the 
House  and  Senate,  the  telegraph  and  telephone  systems 
of  the  United  States  were  placed  under  the  control  of 
the  postmaster-general,  and  on  November  2,  1918,  the 
marine  cables  were  also  placed  under  his  control.  These 
utilities  were  conducted  by  a  wire  control  board,  of 
which  the  postmaster-general  was  the  head.  The 
marine  cables  were  returned  to  their  owners  May  2, 
1919,  and  the  telephone  and  telegraph  lines  were  re- 
turned to  their  owners  in  accordance  with  an  act  of 

[19] 


Congress  on  August  i,  1919,  having  been  under  gov- 
ernment control  just  one  year. 

When  the  telegraph  was  invented,  in  1847,  the  first 
line  between  Washington  and  Baltimore  was  built 
through  an  appropriation  authorized  by  Congress. 
Then,  as  now,  there  were  public  men  who  advocated 
government  ownership  of  the  wire  systems  as  a  means 
of  communication,  the  same  as  the  postal  service.  It 
was  placed  in  private  control,  however,  one  year  after 
its  inauguration,  and  has  grown  up  under  that  control. 
The  Government's  operation  during  the  war  of  both 
the  wire  and  railroad  systems  seems  to  have  cooled 
the  ardor  of  even  the  most  enthusiastic  advocates  of 
government  ownership  of  such  utilities. 

Early  in  1919  the  Post-office  Department  used  the 
wireless  telegraph  in  connection  with  air  mail  service. 
A  central  station  is  located  in  the  Post-office  Depart- 
ment Building  at  Washington,  and  other  stations  are 
located  in  cities  near  the  transcontinental  air  mail 
route  from  New  York  City  to  San  Francisco.  Experi- 
ments are  being  made  with  the  wireless  as  a  means  of 
directing  airplanes  in  flight,  especially  during  foggy 
and  stormy  weather,  and  it  is  expected  planes  will  ulti- 
mately be  equipped  with  either  wireless  telegraph  or 
telephone  outfits.  On  April  22,  1921,  the  Post-office 
Department  adopted  the  use  of  the  wireless  telephone 
in  addition  to  the  wireless  telegraph  service,  and  is  now 
using  both  in  the  air  mail  service,  and  also  for  the  pur- 
pose of  broadcasting  to  farming  communities  govern- 
mental information  such  as  market  reports  from  the 
Agricultural  Department  and  the  big  market  centers.  It 
is  not  contemplated,  however,  that  the  Post-office  De- 
partment will  maintain  the  wireless  telegraph  and  tele- 

[20] 


phone  except  as  an  aid  in  the  development  of  the  air 
mail  service;  only  when  not  in  use  for  this  purpose  is  it 
utilized  to  broadcast  the  governmental  information  re- 
ferred to  for  the  benefit  of  farming  communities  and 
without  expense  to  them. 

The  Post-office  in  the  War 

As  may  be  imagined,  the  work  of  the  Post-office  De- 
partment consequent  upon  the  war  was  enormous ;  it 
participated  in  and  did  war  work  for  practically  all 
other  departments  of  the  Government.  Besides  the 
great  increase  of  ordinary  mail  as  a  result  of  the  war,  it 
assisted  in  the  work  of  the  draft,  the  Liberty  Loans,  the 
Red  Cross  service,  food,  fuel,  and  labor  conservation, 
the  enforcement  of  the  Alien  Enemy  and  Espionage 
laws,  and  nearly  every  war  activity  placed  upon  it  some 
share  of  the  burden.  The  Post-office  Department, 
whose  function  is  purely  civil,  with  responsibility  for 
a  business  service  that  must  not  be  interrupted,  kept 
open  channels  of  communication  upon  which  the  vital 
activities  of  the  Nation  depended,  and  unquestionably 
made  material  contributions  toward  the  successful 
prosecution  of  the  war. 

The  department  was  of  assistance  to  the  Department 
of  Justice,  the  Bureau  of  Intelligence  of  both  the  Army 
and  the  Navy;  the  Department  of  Labor,  in  collecting 
data  relative  to  firms  and  classes  of  labor  in  the  coun- 
try; the  Department  of  Agriculture,  the  Shipping 
Board,  and  various  independent  bureaus  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. Under  proclamation  of  the  President,  post- 
masters of  towns  having  populations  of  5000  or  less 
had  the  duty  of  registering  enemy  aliens.  The  depart- 

[21] 


ment  collected  all  the  statistics  and  lists  of  aliens  for 
the  Department  of  Justice.  A  similar  work  was  per- 
formed with  respect  to  the  duties  of  the  Alien  Property 
Custodian.  Nine  million  questionnaires  were  distrib- 
uted for  the  War  Department,  each  being  handled  three 
times  during  the  first  draft;  about  thirteen  million 
questionnaires  were  distributed  in  the  second  draft. 
The  department  distributed  literature  for  the  Liberty 
Loans  and  the  Red  Cross,  and  assisted  in  the  sale  of  War 
Savings  Stamps  and  Internal  Revenue  Stamps.  New 
postal  service  was  established  for  the  soldiers  at  nearly 
a  hundred  cantonments  in  this  country.  When  the 
American  forces  went  abroad  an  independent  postal 
service  was  established  in  France  by  the  Post-office 
Department  which  was  later  turned  over  to  the  military 
authorities.  That  the  United  States  postal  service  was 
the  only  one  in  the  world  that  did  not  break  down  dur- 
ing the  war  might  well  be  cause  for  pardonable  pride. 

Beginning  of  Registered  Mail,  Postal  Money-orders, 

Savings,  Free  Delivery,  Special  Delivery, 

Parcel  Post,  and  Air  Mail 

The  registry  service  was  established  in  1855  and  the 
money-order  service  was  established  in  1864.  About 
$1,500,000,000  is  transmitted  by  money-orders  annu- 
ally. Postal-savings  service  was  established  January 
3,  1911,  and  during  the  first  year  the  deposits  reached  a 
total  of  $677,145.  The  increase  in  this  department  has 
been  continuous  each  year,  and  in  a  recent  year  the 
amount  was  over  $150,000,000.  The  parcel-post  sys- 
tem was  established  January  i,  1913,  and  now  nearly 
three  billion  parcels  are  handled  annually. 

[22] 


In  1863  the  innovation  of  free  delivery  of  mail  in 
forty-nine  cities  was  undertaken,  for  which  449  carriers 
were  employed.  In  1890,  454  cities  enjoyed  free  de- 
livery of  mail  and  9066  carriers  did  the  work.  In  1921 
there  were  about  3000  city  delivery  post-offices  and 
about  36,000  carriers.  The  Post-office  Department 
owns  and  operates  almost  4000  automobiles  in  the  col- 
lection and  delivery  of  mail  in  cities,  but  this  is  a  small 
part  of  the  number  operating  under  contract.  The  reg- 
ular use  of  the  automobile  in  the  postal  service  dates 
back  only  to  1907.  The  feature  of  special  delivery  of 
mail  was  inaugurated  in  1885. 

The  first  regular  air  mail  route  was  inaugurated  May 
15,  1918,  between  Washington  and  New  York,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  200  miles,  the  schedule  being  two  hours, 
compared  with  about  five  hours  for  steam  trains. 

An  air  route  between  Cleveland  and  Chicago  was 


Airplane  mail  equipment. 
[23] 


inaugurated  May  15,  1919,  and  between  New  York  and 
Cleveland  July  i,  1919.  The  Transcontinental  Air 
Mail  Route  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco,  inaugu- 
rated September  8,  1920,  is  the  only  route  at  present  in 
operation.  This  coast-to-coast  route  is  2629  miles  in 
length,  passing  through  Cleveland,  Chicago,  Omaha, 
Cheyenne,  Salt  Lake  City,  and  Reno.  Relays  of  planes 
are  used,  but,  contrary  to  the  general  impression,  mail 
is  not  carried  all  the  way  by  air;  instead,  planes  pick 
up  mail  which  has  missed  trains  and  advance  it  to 
points  where  it  will  catch  through  trains. 

Three  rural  routes,  the  first  ones,  were  established 
in  1896  in  West  Virginia.  By  1900  there  were  1259;  in 
1906,  32,110;  1912,  42,199;  on  January  i,  1922,  there 
were  44,007.  Rural  routes  now  in  operation  cover  a 
total  of  1,152,000  miles  and  the  number  of  patrons 
served  is  about  30,000,000.  The  Rural  Free  Delivery 
Service  brings  in  but  about  one  fourth  of  its  cost. 
There  are  also  about  1 1,000  contract  mail  routes  (star 
routes)  serving  communities  not  reached  by  rail  or 
rural  routes. 


Postal  Business  Increases 

In  the  five  years  from  1912  to  1917,  the  increase  in  the 
volume  of  business  as  reflected  by  the  annual  gross  re- 
ceipts of  the  post-office  was  33.64  per  cent.,  and  in  the 
ten-year  period  from  1912  to  1921,  inclusive,  it  was 
87.84  per  cent.  During  this  decade  there  was  a  decrease 
in  postal  receipts  in  but  one  year  as  compared  with  the 
previous  year,  and  that  was  in  1915,  when  the  percen- 
tage of  decrease  was  0.23  per  cent.  For  the  ten  years 

[24] 


mentioned  the  percentage  of  increase  in  receipts  for 
each  year  over  the  previous  year  was  as  follows : 

Percentage  Percentage 

1912 3.72  1917   5-662 

1913  8.65  1918   4472 

1914 7-59  1919 5-9i2 

1915 231  1920 19.81 

1916 8.63  1921   6.02 


The  Post-office  and  Good  Roads 

The  pony  express  riders,  to  whom  reference  has  already 
been  made,  rode  over  trails  and  cow-paths  made  by 
herds  of  buffaloes,  deer,  or  cattle.  To-day,  however,  as 
part  of  our  post-office  appropriations,  large  sums  are 
included  for  construction  and  keeping  in  repair  public 
roads  and  routes  used  by  different  branches  of  our  mail 
service.  For  the  present  year  there  was  appropriated 
for  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  the  Federal  High- 
way Act  the  sum  of  $75,000,000  for  what  is  known  as 
Federal  aid  to  the  States  in  road  construction,  and 
$10,000,000  for  forest  roads  for  1923.  A  comprehensive 
program  has  been  adopted  and,  in  order  that  the  States 
may  make  adequate  provisions  to  meet  their  share  for 
the  Federal  appropriations,  they  know  in  advance  just 
what  Federal  appropriation  they  can  depend  upon. 

The  total  Federal  aid  funds  which  have  been  appor- 
tioned to  the  States  from  1916  to  192 1  amount  to  $339,- 
875,000.  On  February  i,  1922,  $213,947,790  had  been 
paid  on  actual  construction,  leaving  a  balance  for  new 
construction  of  $125,927,214.  Between  February  i  and 

1  Decrease. 

Additional  revenue  on  account  of  increased  postage  rates  incident  to 
the  war  not  included. 

[25] 


July  i  of  this  year  about  $40,927,000  more  was  put  into 
construction. 

Washington  Headquarters 

The  main  Post-office  Department  Building  is  located  at 
i  ith  Street  and  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  N.W.,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  What  is  known  as  the  City  Post-Office 
Building  is  at  North  Capitol  Street  and  Massachusetts 
Avenue  in  that  city,  and  the  mail  equipment  shops  are 
located  at  5th  and  W  Streets,  N.E.  The  total  num- 
ber of  employees  in  the  General  Department  is  2025. 

The  clerks  throughout  the  department,  in  character, 
intelligence,  and  dependability,  are  above  the  average. 
Not  only  must  postal  clerks  be  familiar  with  the  loca- 
tion of  several  thousand  post-offices,  but  they  must  know 
on  what  railroad  each  post-office  is  located,  through 
what  junction  points  a  letter  despatched  to  that  office 
must  pass,  and  many  other  important  details.  The 
schedules  of  railroads  affect  the  method  of  despatching 
mail,  and  these  are  constantly  changing  so  that  postal 
clerks  must  be  up  to  the  minute  on  all  schedules,  etc. 

Red  Corpuscles  for  Our  Postal  Arteries 

A  new  post-office  policy  that  is  well  expressed  by  the 
words  "humanized  service"  has  been  inaugurated.  The 
postal  educational  exhibits  which  have  been  conducted 
in  many  of  the  larger  offices  for  the  purposes  of  teach- 
ing the  public  how  to  mail  and  how  not  to  mail  letters, 
parcels,  and  valuables  were  but  single  manifestations 
of  this  new  spirit.  Some  persons  may  think — and  with 
good  reason — that  only  recently  have  postal  authori- 
ties indicated  concern  in  what  the  public  did;  but  that 

[26] 


the  present  interest  is  genuine  is  evident  to  any  one. 
The  department  is  likewise  interested  in  its  workers 
and  makes  an  effort  to  understand  them.  Says  the  head 
of  the  department  in  his  latest  report:  "We  are  de- 
pendent on  the  nerve  and  the  sense  of  loyalty  of  human 
beings  for  the  punctual  delivery  of  our  mail  regardless 
of  the  weather  and  everything  else.  To  treat  a  postal 
employee  as  a  mere  commodity  in  the  labor  market  is 
not  only  wicked  from  a  humanitarian  standpoint,  but 
is  foolish  and  short-sighted  even  from  the  standpoint  of 
business.  The  postal  employee  who  is  regarded  as  a 
human  being  whose  welfare  is  important  to  his  fellows, 
high  and  low,  in  the  national  postal  organization,  is 
bound  to  do  his  work  with  a  courage,  a  zest,  and  a  thor- 
oughness which  no  money  value  can  ever  buy.  The 
security  which  he  feels  he  passes  on  to  the  men  and 
women  he  serves.  Instead  of  a  distrust  of  his  Govern- 
ment, he  radiates  confidence  in  it.  I  want  to  make 
every  man  and  woman  in  the  postal  service  feel  that  he 
or  she  is  a  partner  in  this  greatest  of  all  business  under- 
takings, whose  individual  judgment  is  valued,  and 
whose  welfare  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  suc- 
cessful operation  of  the  whole  organization.  We  want 
every  postal  co-worker  to  feel  that  he  has  more  than  a 
job.  A  letter-carrier  does  a  good  deal  more  than  bring 
a  letter  into  a  home  when  he  calls.  He  ought  to  know 
the  interest  which  his  daily  travels  bring  to  the  home. 
We  have  326,000  men  and  women  with  the  same  ob- 
jective, with  the  same  hopes  and  aspirations,  all  work- 
ing together  for  the  same  purpose,  a  mutual  apprecia- 
tion one  for  the  other,  serving  an  appreciative  public. 
If  we  can  improve  the  spirit  and  actual  working  con- 
ditions of  these  326,000  men  and  women  who  do  this 

[27] 


job,  that  in  itself  is  an  accomplishment,  and  it  is  just 
as  certain  to  bring  a  consequent  improvement  in  the 
service  as  the  coming  of  to-morrow's  sun." 

Welfare  Work 

Few  people  know  that  to-day  a  welfare  department  is 
in  operation  throughout  the  postal  system  which  is  di- 
rectly interested  in  improving  the  working  conditions 
of  all  the  postal  workers.  The  department  was  organ- 
ized in  June,  1921,  by  the  appointment  of  a  welfare 
director.  Councils  of  employees  meet  regularly  to  con- 
sider matters  affecting  their  welfare  and  to  discuss 
plans  for  improving  the  postal  service.  The  National 
Welfare  Council  has  been  formed  of  the  following 
postal  employee  organizations : 

National  Federation  of  Post-office  Clerks 
The  Railway  Mail  Association 
United  National  Association  of  Post-office  Clerks 
National  Rural  Letter-Carriers  Association 
National  Association  of  Letter-Carriers 
National  Federation  of  Rural  Carriers 
National  Association  of  Supervisory  Employees 
National  Federation  of  Federal  Employees 
National  Association  of  Post-office  Laborers 

Mutual  aid  and  benefit  societies  with  insurance  fea- 
tures are  conducted,  athletics  are  encouraged,  sick 
benefits  are  provided,  retirement  pensions  are  in  effect, 
and  postal  employees  to-day  can  well  believe  that  some- 
body cares  about  their  comfort  and  welfare.  Inciden- 
tally, savings  aggregating  many  thousands  of  dollars 
annually  have  been  effected  through  the  suggestions 
and  inventions  of  employees  in  the  service. 

[28] 


One  of  the  important  divisions  in  the  postal  service 
is  that  which  pertains  to  the  inspection  work,  much 
of  which  does  not  attract  outside  attention  and  only 
comes  to  public  notice  when  some  one  has  gotten  into 
trouble  with  the  postal  authorities.  In  a  large  measure, 
inspection  work  pertains  to  the  apprehension  of  crimi- 
nals and  the  investigation  of  depredations,  but  that  is 
only  a  comparatively  small  part  of  the'  division's 
activities. 

Post-office  inspectors  investigate  and  report  upon 
matters  affecting  every  branch  of  the  postal  service; 
they  are  traveling  auditors  and  check  up  accounts  and 
collect  shortages ;  they  decide  where  an  office  should  be 
located,  how  it  should  be  fitted  up,  and  how  many 
clerks  or  carriers  may  be  needed. 

The  rural  carriers,  for  instance,  must  be  familiar 
with  the  regulations  that  cover  the  delivery  of  mail, 
registration  of  letters,  taking  applications  for  money- 
orders,  sale  of  stamps,  supplies,  etc.,  but  the  inspector 
must  also  know  all  of  these  and  also  be  able  to  deter- 
mine when  the  establishment  of  a  route  is  warranted, 
to  lay  out  and  fix  the  schedules  and  prepare  a  map  and 
description  of  the  route,  also  measure  the  routes  if 
the  length  is  in  dispute,  inspect  the  service,  ascertain 
whether  it  is  properly  performed,  and  give  necessary 
instructions  to  the  carriers  and  postmasters. 

Carriers  must  know  their  districts,  understand  regu- 
lations covering  the  delivery  of  mail,  handling  of  reg- 
istry, insurance  and  collection  on  delivery  matter,  col- 
lection of  mail  and  handling  of  change  of  address  and 
forwarding  orders.  The  inspector,  however,  deter- 
mines when  conditions  are  such  at  an  office  that  city 
delivery  service  may  be  installed,  the  number  of  car- 

[29] 


riers  necessary,  and  the  number  of  deliveries  to  be 
made.  He  lays  out  the  routes,  locates  the  collection 
boxes,  and  fixes  the  schedules.  He  is  also  called  on  to 
investigate  the  service  when  extensions  are  desired  or 
when  carriers  are  deemed  necessary,  and  is  concerned 
with  clerks,  supervisory  officers,  postmasters,  new  post- 
offices,  railway  mail  service,  contracts  for  transporta- 
tion of  mail  and  furnishing  of  supplies,  as  well  as  the 
enforcement  of  criminal  statutes  covering  train  rob- 
beries, post-office  burglaries,  money-order  forgeries, 
lottery  men,  the  transmission  of  obscene  literature, 
mail-bag  thieves,  embezzlers,  etc. 


[30] 


The  following  regular  employees  were  in  the  Post-office 
Department  and  Postal  Service  on  July  i,  1922: 

Post-office  Department  proper 1,917 

Post-office  inspectors 485 

Clerks  at  headquarters,  post-office  inspectors 115 

Employees  at  United  States  Envelope  Agency 10 

First  Assistant  Postmasters: 

First   class 834 

Second  class 2,808 

Third  class 10,407 

Fourth  class 37*899  5 1 ,948 

Assistant   postmasters 2,730 

Clerks,  first  and  second  class  offices 56,003 

City  letter  carriers 39,480 

Village  carriers i ,  1 1 1 

Watchmen,    messengers,    laborers,    printers,    etc.,  in 

post  offices 3,063 

Substitute  clerks,  first  and  second  class  offices 1 1,283 

Substitute   letter  carriers 10,765 

Special  delivery  messengers  (estimated) 3>5OO 

Second  Assistant: 

Officers  in  Railway  Mail  Service 149 

Railway  postal  clerks 19,659 

Substitute  railway  postal  clerks. . . .. 2,419 

Air  mail  employees 345 

Fourth  Assistant: 

Rural  carriers 44,086 

Motor- vehicle   employees 3>!77 

Substitute  motor- vehicle  employees 447 

Government-operated  star-route  employees .......  64 

Total 252,756 

The  following  classes  or  groups  are  indirectly  connected 
with  the  Postal  Service  in  most  instances  through  contractual 
relationship,  and  take  the  oath  of  office,  but  are  not  employees 
of  the  Post-office  Department  or  the  Postal  Service: 

Clerks  at  third-class  offices  (estimated) 13,000 

Clerks  at  fourth-class  offices  (estimated) 37,899 

Mail  messengers 13,128 

Screen-wagon   contractors 201 

Carriers  for  offices  having  special  supply 349 

Clerks  in  charge  of  contract  stations 4,869 

Star-route   contractors 10,766 

Steamboat   contractors 273 

Total 80,485 

[31] 


THE  POST-OFFICE  IN  NEW  YORK 

List  of  New  York  City  postmasters  from  1687  to  date: 


WILLIAM  BOGARDUS 

April  4,  1687 
HENRY  SHARPAS 

April  4,  1692 
RICHARD  NICHOL 

(Postmaster  in  1732) 
ALEXANDER  GOLDEN 

(Postmaster  in  1753-75) 
EBENEZER  HAZARD 

October  5,  1775 
WILLIAM  BEDLOE 

(Postmaster  in    1785,   ap- 
pointed after  close  of 
Revolutionary  War) 
SEBASTIAN  BAUMAN 

February  16,  1796 
JOSIAS  TEN  EYCK 

January  i,  1804 
THEODORUS  BAILEY 

April  2,  1804 
SAMUEL  L.  GOUVERNEUR 

November  19,  1828 
JONATHAN  I.  CODDINGTON 

July  5,  1836 
JOHN  L.  GRAHAM 

March  14,  1842 
ROBERT  H.  MORRIS 

May  3,  1845 
WILLIAM  V.  BRADY 

May  14,  1849 
ISAAC  V.  FOWLER 

April  i,  1853 
JOHN  A.  Dix 

May  17,  1860 
WILLIAM  B.  TAYLOR 

January  16,  1861 


ABRAM  WAKEMAN 

March  21,  1862 
JAMES  KELLY 

September  19,  1864 
PATRICK  H.  JONES 

April  27,  1869 
THOMAS  L.  JAMES 

March  17,  1873 
HENRY  G.  PEARSON 

April  i,  1 88 1 
THOMAS  L.  JAMES  (acting) 

April  21,  1889 
CORNELIUS  VAN  COTT 

May  i,  1889 
CHARLES  W.  DAYTON 

July  i,  1893 
CORNELIUS  VAN  COTT 

May  23,  1897 
EDWARD  M.  MORGAN  (acting) 

October  26,  1904 
WILLIAM  R.  WILLCOX 

January  i,  1905 
EDWARD  M.  MORGAN  (acting) 

July  i,  1907 
EDWARD  M.  MORGAN 

September  i,  1907 
EDWARD  M.  MORGAN 

(reappointed) 

December  14,  191 1 
ROBERT  F.  WAGNER 

April   22,    1916.     Declined 
THOMAS  G.  PATTEN 

March  16,  1917 
EDWARD  M.  MORGAN 

(reappointed) 

July  i,  1921 


[32] 


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[33] 


Early  New  York 

The  first  ships  which  arrived  after  the  settlement  of 
New  York  as  New  Amsterdam  brought  letters,  and  the 
first  post-office,  such  as  it  was,  began  to  function  about 
the  time  the  city  was  founded. 

When  vessels  arrived,  those  letters  relating  to  the 
cargoes  were  delivered  to  merchants;  persons  who  wel- 
comed the  ships  received  their  letters  by  hand.  If  a 
letter  was  unclaimed,  it  was  left  with  a  responsible  pri- 
vate citizen  until  called  for. 

In  time  a  system  of  voluntary  distribution  was  devel- 
oped, which  became  known  as  the  "Coffee  House  De- 
livery." It  was  naturally  popular  and  continued  for 
over  a  century.  At  first  this  method  of  delivery  was 
used  by  vessels  and  by  people  from  distant  points  who 
left  their  mail  for  delivery  at  some  well-known  tavern. 
Here  it  reposed  in  a  box  accessible  to  all,  or  it  was 
tacked  to  the  surface  of  a  smooth  board  with  tape  or 
brass-headed  nails  and  placed  in  a  conspicuous  part  of 
the  tavern. 

In  the  year  1710  the  postmaster-general  of  Great 
Britain  designated  a  "chief  letter  office"  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  Philadelphia  having  been  the  headquarters 
of  the  Colonial  organization  up  to  that  time.  In  the 
following  year  arrangements  were  completed  for  the 
delivery  of  Boston  mail  twice  a  month,  and  a  foot-post 
to  Albany  was  proposed. 

In  1740  a  complete  road  was  blazed  from  Paulus 
Hook,  Jersey  City,  to  Philadelphia,  over  which  the  mail 
was  carried  on  horseback  between  Philadelphia  and 
New  York. 

Alexander  Golden  was  postmaster  here  at  the  time 

[34] 


of  the  Revolution,  but  when  the  British  troops  took 
possession  of  New  York,  the  office  was  abolished  by  the 
provost-marshal  and  for  seven  years  little  correspon- 
dence not  connected  with  the  movement  of  troops  was 
handled. 

William  Bedloe,  after  whom  Bedloe's  Island  was 
named,  was  the  first  postmaster  after  the  war,  but  in 
1786  Sebastian  Bauman  succeeded  him. 

The  New  York  General  Post-office  To-day 

The  world's  greatest  post-office  to-day  is  the  New  York 
General  Post-office,  located  at  Eighth  Avenue  and 
West  33d  Street,  but  a  short  block  from  the  West  Side 
Office  of  the  Manufacturers  Trust  Company,  and  we 
are  glad  to  be  able  to  include  in  this  booklet  a  message 
to  our  readers  from  Hon.  E.  M.  Morgan,  Postmaster, 
who  directs  the  activities  of  that  great  organization. 


[35] 


THE  NEW  YORK  GENERAL  POST-OFFICE  OF 
THE  PAST,  THE  PRESENT,  AND 

THE  FUTURE 
BY  E.  M.  MORGAN,  POSTMASTER 

The  growth  of  business  transacted  by  the  New  York  post-office 
is  illustrated  by  the  following  statement  showing  the  postal 
revenues  for  the  years  mentioned.  It  appears  that  the  first 
account  of  revenues  of  the  New  York  post-office  was  published 
in  the  year  1786,  and  the  first  city  directory  was  also  published 
in  that  year,  and  contained  926  names. 

Year  Amount 

1786    $        2,789.84 

1873  (estimated)    2,500,000.00 

1922    54,109,050.61 

According  to  a  recent  statement  by  Hon.  Hubert  Work,  Post- 
master-General, the  postal  business  now  done  in  New  York  City 
alone  is  equivalent  to  that  of  the  United  States  twenty-five  years 
ago,  and  is  double  that  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 

During  my  personal  experience  with  the  postal  affairs  of  this 
great  city,  the  service  has  been  expanded  from  a  post-office  with 
eleven  stations  and  973  employees  to  an  enormous  establishment 
having  a  total  of  362  stations,  including  fifty  carrier  and  financial 
stations,  271  contract  stations,  and  forty-one  United  States  War- 
ship Branches;  requiring  a  total  force  of  15,600  post-office  em- 
ployees. The  postmaster  at  New  York  is  also  the  Central 
Accounting  Postmaster  for  1375  district  post-offices  (365  third- 
class  and  10 10  fourth-class  post-offices)  located  in  thirty-five 
counties  of  New  York  State. 

The  transactions  of  this  important  office  are  constantly  increas- 
ing in  volume  as  a  result  of  the  great  expansion  and  growth  of 
New  York  City,  which  is  greatly  influenced  by  the  progress  and 
growth  of  the  entire  country.  New  York  City,  as  the  metropolis 
of  the  United  States,  is  taking  her  place  at  the  head  of  the  large 
cities  of  the  world  in  population,  finance,  and  commercial  affairs. 

If  the  progress  made  in  the  past  fifty  years  by  the  United  States 

[36] 


and  its  possessions  in  the  conduct  of  national  and  international 
business  continues,  the  postal  business  here  will,  no  doubt,  make 
tremendous  strides. 

At  the  end  of  another  fifty  years,  or  in  the  year  1972,  the 
postmaster  at  New  York  will  be  the  head  of  a  much  greater 
establishment  than  the  present  office,  which  will  be  comparable 
to  that  organization  of  the  future  as  the  first  post-office  in  New 
York  City,  located  in  the  "Coffee  House,"  Coenties  Slip,  in  1642, 
is  comparable  to  the  present  post-office.  The  future  postmaster 
of  New  York,  in  1972,  will  probably  be  the  head  of  a  number  of 
consolidated  post-offices  in  the  metropolitan  area,  and,  no  doubt, 
other  public  services  will  be  placed  under  his  supervision. 

The  further  development  and  improvement  of  the  aeroplane 
mail  service  will  no  doubt  result  in  a  greater  use  of  that  facility 
for  the  transportation  of  mails.  The  transportation  of  the  mails 
through  the  streets  of  New  York  is  a  great  problem.  At  present 
motor  trucks  are  principally  used  for  that  purpose.  It  is 
anticipated  that  even  with  this  service  augmented  by  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  pneumatic  tubes,  future  extensions  to  the 
underground  method  of  transportation  will  be  necessary.  It  is 
likely  that  before  many  years  are  passed  a  system  of  tunnels 
for  the  transportation  of  mails  in  pouches  and  sacks  will  be  built 
and  placed  in  operation. 

Congress  and  the  Post-office  Department  are  now  looking  into 
the  matter  of  providing  the  post-office  at  New  York  with  a  large 
amount  of  additional  room  in  new  buildings  specially  constructed 
for  post-office  purposes  and  it  is  the  constant  aim  and  purpose 
of  all  concerned  in  the  operation  of  the  New  York  post-office  to 
furnish  its  patrons  the  best  postal  service. 

E.  M.  MORGAN, 

POSTMASTER. 


[37] 


New  York  Post-office 

Conceive,  if  you  can,  an  organization  that  is  incessantly 
and  perpetually  going  at  top  speed;  that  knows  not  a 
moment  of  rest  the  year  round,  or  generation  after 
generation;  which  never  sleeps,  nor  pauses,  nor  hesi- 
tates; that  disposes  each  day  of  a  mountain  of 
14,300,000  pieces  of  ordinary  mail,  or  more  than  any 
other  office  in  the  world;  that  does  a  parcel-post  busi- 
ness that  makes  the  business  of  the  express  companies 
seem  small  in  comparison;  that  handles  in  excess  of 
41,500,000  pieces  of  registered  mail  each  year;  that 
issues  nearly  four  million  money-orders  annually,  and 
pays  over  seventeen  million  more;  that,  as  a  mere 
side  issue  does  a  banking  business  which  is  exceeded 
by  but  a  few  banks  in  the  whole  State;  that  has  in  its 
safe  custody  the  savings  of  approximately  140,000 
depositors,  amounting  to  more  than  $44,000,000;  that 
employs  an  army  of  15,000  men  and  women;  that  oc- 
cupies one  of  the  largest  buildings  in  the  city,  two 
blocks  in  length,  and  then  overflows  into  approximately 
fifty  annexes,  called  "Classified  Stations,"  and  nearly 
200  sub-annexes,  called  "Contract  Stations";  that  has 
receipts  in  excess  of  $52,000,000  per  annum;  that  has 
doubled  its  business  in  ten  years.  Having  conceived 
this,  you  will  begin  to  get  some  idea  of  the  New  York 
post-office,  the  biggest  thing  of  its  kind  in  the  world 
and  still  growing. 

The  average  man's  conception  of  a  post-office  in- 
cludes little  more  than  an  impression  of  a  letter-carrier 
in  a  gray  uniform;  a  mail  wagon  recently  dodged  by  a 
narrow  margin;  a  post-office  station  somewhere  in  his 
neighborhood,  and  a  hazy  picture  of  a  dingy  place  in 

[38] 


which  men  sometimes  post  letters.  Of  the  details  of 
the  organization  aside  from  these  things,  the  extent  and 
complexities  of  the  service,  or  how  it  accomplishes  what 
it  does,  or  of  the  executive  experts  operating  the  sys- 
tem, he  knows  practically  nothing.  He  is  aware,  it  is 
true,  that  letters  are  collected  and  that  letters  are  de- 
livered, and  that  continents  and  oceans  may  divide  the 
sender  and  addressee;  but  by  what  mystic  methods 
delivery  is  accomplished  he  has  never  stopped  to  think. 
Yet  the  organization  that  lies  behind  the  words  "New 
York  post-office"  is  one  of  the  most  complex,  efficient, 
and  interesting  in  the  world,  and  yet  it  operates  with 
a  simplicity  and  a  smoothness  that  betoken  master 
design  and  perfection  of  detail. 

The  Postmaster 

At  the  head  of  this  great  organization  and  directing 
its  every  movement,  watching  its  development,  adjust- 
ing its  activities,  is  one  of  the  most  experienced  and 
efficient  postal  experts  in  America,  in  the  person  of 
Postmaster  Edward  M.  Morgan,  whose  interesting 
statement  is  included  at  the  head  of  this  section. 

Mr.  Morgan  entered  the  postal  service  in  1873  as  a 
letter-carrier,  at  the  foot  'of  the  ladder,  and  by  an 
industry  that  was  tireless  and  force  of  character  he 
worked  his  way  up,  round  after  round,  to  the  very  top. 
In  the  course  of  his  long  public  service  he  transferred 
from  the  carrier  force  to  the  clerical  force,  and  then 
graduated  from  this  to  the  supervisory  ranks,  discharg- 
ing each  successive  grade  with  conspicuous  ability.  His 
several  titles  in  the  course  of  this  career  were :  carrier, 
clerk,  chief  clerk,  superintendent  of  stations,  superin- 

[39] 


tendent  of  delivery,  assistant  postmaster,  acting  post- 
master, postmaster.  He  was  first  appointed  postmaster 
by  President  Roosevelt,  and  reappointed  by  President 
Taft.  For  an  interval  during  President  Wilson's  ad- 
ministration he  was  out  of  office,  but  was  reappointed 
by  President  Harding.  With  such  a  record  of  progress 
and  experience  it  is  very  evident  that  he  must  "know 
the  game/'  but  if  one  knows  nothing  of  his  history,  and 
meets  him  for  a  few  minutes,  his  grasp  of  detail  and 
vision  of  opportunity  for  future  development  become 
at  once  apparent. 

Postmaster  Morgan  has  gathered  around  him  as  his 
heads  of  divisions  a  corps  of  enthusiastic  aides  who 
have  grown  up  in  the  service  under  his  tutelage,  and 
each  of  whom  has  advanced  step  by  step  under  the 
keenest  competition,  demonstrating  his  competency 
for  the  position  he  fills  by  the  satisfactory  manner  in 
which  he  has  discharged  the  duties  of  the  position  of 
lower  rank.  Among  his  aides  there  are  no  amateurs; 
all  have  been  tried  for  a  generation  or  more  in  positions 
of  varying  and  increasing  importance,  and  they  have 
stood  the  test ;  they  are  recognized  the  country  over  as 
postal  experts,  and  the  work  they  are  doing  and  the 
efficiency  they  are  showing  are  proof  that  their  repu- 
tations are  well  merited. 

The  Organisation  of  the  New  York  Post-office 

Next  in  rank  to  the  postmaster  are  the  assistant  post- 
master and  the  acting  assistant  postmaster,  the  first  at 
the  head  of  the  financial  divisions  and  miscellaneous 
executive  departments,  and  the  second  at  the  head  of 
various  divisions  engaged  in  handling  the  mails  proper. 

[40] 


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The  Assistant  Postmaster 

The  assistant  postmaster  is  Mr.  John  J.  Kiely,  who  has 
been  in  the  service  thirty-seven  years,  and,  like  the 
postmaster,  has  worked  up  from  the  ranks,  advancing 
through  the  various  grades  as  foreman,  assistant  super- 
intendent, superintendent,  division  head,  etc.,  to  the 
title  he  now  holds.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was  in 


[Post  Office,  IHew  lijork,  Itt.  J?. 


THIS  POST  OFFICE  Is  A  BUSINESS  INSTITUTION 

pATRONS  are  entitled  to  and  must  receive  prompt, 
efficient  and  courteous  service. 

If  you  think  our  methods  or  conduct  can  be  improved,  the 
Postmaster  wants  to  hear  about  it,  personally. 

--— —  EDWARD  M.  MORGAN,  Postmaster 


A  new  kind  of  sign  in  Government  offices. 

charge  first  of  one  and  then  of  another  of  the  great  ter- 
minal stations  of  the  city,  where  the  greatest  volumes 
of  mail  are  handled  of  any  of  the  stations  in  this  coun- 
try, and  later  was  made  superintendent  of  mails,  from 
which  position  he  was  recently  promoted  to  the  title  he 
now  holds. 

The  Acting  Assistant  Postmaster 

The  acting  assistant  postmaster  is  Mr.  Thomas  B. 
Randies,  who  is  responsible  for  the  movement  of  the 
mails,  and  who,  for  several  years  prior  to  his  attaining 
his  present  rank,  was  assistant  superintendent  of  mails; 

[42] 


prior  to  that,  he  was  superintendent  of  different  stations 
in  various  parts  of  the  city.  He  has  seen  twenty-eight 
years'  service  in  various  ranks. 

The  Division  Heads 

Next  in  rank  to  the  officials  mentioned  there  is  a  group 
of  division  heads,  corresponding  with  the  various  major 
activities  of  the  office,  including  the  Division  of  Deliv- 
ery, the  Division  of  Mails,  the  Division  of  Registered 
Mails,  and  the  Division  of  Money-Orders,  followed  by 
the  cashier,  the  auditor,  the  classification  division,  etc. 
The  duties  of  each  of  these  heads  are  very  clearly 
defined  by  Postmaster  Morgan,  and  each  head  is  held  to 
strict  responsibility  for  the  faithful  and  efficient  con- 
duct of  his  division  or  department.  The  postmaster 
himself  is  ever  ready  to  give  advice  and  counsel,  and  is 
the  most  accessible  of  executives,  not  only  to  his  staff, 
but  to  employees  of  all  rank  and  to  the  public.  He  in 
turn  requires  of  all  of  his  aides  not  only  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  every  detail  of  their  work,  but  also  that 
they  shall  be  as  accessible  to  those  under  them  and  to 
the  public  as  he  is  himself. 

The  Postmaster's  Weekly  Conference 

Once  each  week  the  postmaster  meets  his  division 
heads  and  department  chiefs  in  formal  council,  when 
the  problems  of  the  service  are  freely  discussed  and 
plans  are  formulated  for  such  undertakings  as  may 
require  unity  of  action  and  cooperative  effort.  These 
conferences  keep  the  various  heads  apprised  of  what  is 
of  importance  in  the  various  departments,  and  pro- 

[43] 


mote  an  esprit  de  corps  and  cooperative  attitude  that 
explain  the  exceptional  unity  of  effort  that  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  entire  organization.  One  has  only  to 
study  the  organization  for  a  short  time  to  discover  that 
one  of  its  strongest  features  is  the  manifest  team-work, 
the  one  animating  and  controlling  influence  throughout 
it  all  being  "the  interest  of  the  service/' 

The  Delivery  Division 

Closest  to  the  heart  of  the  public  of  all  the  postal  em- 
ployees— probably  because  they  see  so  many  of  them 
and  know  so  much  of  their  faithful  work  as  they  plod 
along  day  in  and  day  out,  in  all  kinds  of  weather,  with 
their  heavy  loads  weighing  down  their  shoulders  and 
twisting  their  spines — are  the  letter-carriers.  These  are 
all  under  the  Division  of  Delivery,  the  superintendent 
of  which  is  Mr.  Charles  Lubin.  Mr.  Lubin  entered  the 
service  in  1890,  as  a  substitute  clerk,  and  is  another 
example  of  the  executive  who  has  risen,  step  by  step, 
through  all  the  various  clerical  grades  to  supervisory 
rank,  and  then  through  the  various  supervisory  ranks 
to  his  present  title.  The  Delivery  Division  includes  in 
its  personnel,  in  addition  to  2954  letter-carriers,  3621 
clerks,  282  laborers,  and  1800  substitute  employees,  so 
that  it  constitutes  a  small  army,  in  itself. 

The  New  York  post-office  covers  both  Manhattan 
and  the  Bronx,  with  a  postal  population  which  greatly 
exceeds  the  population  as  shown  by  the  census.  To 
New  York  gravitate  daily  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
people  who  are  employed  in  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx 
but  who  reside  in  Brooklyn,  New  Jersey,  Long  Island, 
or  elsewhere.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  others  reside 

[44] 


at  one  address  in  Manhattan  or  the  Bronx,  but  do  busi- 
ness at  another,  receiving  mail  at  both  addresses.  In- 
cluding these,  the  transients,  and  the  commuters  men- 
tioned, it  is  estimated  that  the  Delivery  Division  is 
receiving  mail  for  approximately  8,000,000  addressees 
in  the  boroughs  of  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx. 

Adequately  to  meet  the  requirements  of  this  vast 
number  there  are  scheduled,  for  the  business  section  of 
the  city,  six  carrier  deliveries  daily,  and  four  for  the 
residential  sections.  Just  what  this  means  will  be 
better  appreciated  if  one  will  pause  and  try  to  visualize 
what  it  means  to  traverse  every  street  and  alley  of  the 
great  area  covered  by  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx  from 
four  to  six  times  daily,  stopping  at  every  door  for  which 
there  is  mail,  and  effecting  delivery  in  apartments,  in 
tenements,  in  office  buildings,  and  in  factories. 

Of  the  2954  carriers  mentioned  above,  384  are  em- 
ployed in  collecting  mail  from  the  street  boxes,  both 
package  and  letter,  and  from  the  chutes  in  office  build- 
ings, etc.  From  the  boxes  in  remote  suburban  districts 
three  to  five  collections  are  made  daily,  from  boxes  in 
the  residential  sections  from  seven  to  fifteen  collections 
daily,  while  in  the  business  sections  the  collections  run 
from  fifteen  to  twenty-seven. 

Even  with  the  frequency  of  collection  that  takes 
place  in  the  intensively  developed  business  sections,  the 
boxes  fill  up  as  quickly  as  they  are  emptied. 

To  appreciate  how  quickly,  and  to  make  clear  the 
volume  of  mail  collected  by  the  carriers,  it  may  be 
stated  that  among  the  office  buildings  equipped  with 
chute  letter-boxes  are  the  Equitable  Life,  thirty-nine 
stories,  and  the  Woolworth,  fifty-five  stories,  from  each 
of  which  fifty-five  to  sixty  full  sacks  of  mail  are  col- 

[45] 


lected  by  the  carriers  daily  between  3  and  7.30  P.M. 
These  sacks  are  conveyed  by  wagons  to  the  Varick 
Street  Station  for  postmarking  and  despatch,  four  car- 
riers being  engaged  on  the  task. 

The  volume  of  mail  collected  at  the  close  of  business 
in  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  and  largely  from  buildings 
equipped  with  chutes  and  boxes,  exceeds  that  handled 
by  many  first-class  post-offices  for  an  entire  twenty- 
four-hour  period. 


Rear  view  of  New  York  General  Post  Office  and  Pennsylvania 

Railroad  tracks.     Manufacturers   Trust  Company,  West 

Side  offices,  nearby  (in  semi-circle). 


The  Stations 

For  greater  efficiency  in  handling  the  mails,  to  shorten 
the  trips  of  carriers  and  collectors  and  to  serve  the 
public  convenience,  as  the  city  has  grown,  various 
classified  or  carrier  stations  have  been  established,  and 
of  these  there  are  now  no  fewer  than  forty-eight  in 
operation  and  also  two  financial  stations.  The  classi- 

[46] 


fied  or  carrier  stations  are  practically  complete  post- 
offices,  so  far  as  the  public  is  concerned,  affording  full 
facilities  for  the  sale  of  stamps,  money-orders,  postal 
savings,  registration  of  mail,  acceptance  of  parcel  post, 
the  distribution  of  mail,  etc.,  and  for  the  delivery  and 
collection  of  mail  by  carriers.  The  financial  stations 
afford  all  the  conveniences  mentioned  for  the  benefit 
of  the  public,  except  that  they  do  not  make  delivery  of 
mail  nor  effect  its  distribution. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  delivery  division  effects  the 
delivery  daily  through  the  carriers  assigned  to  the  gen- 
eral office  and  to  the  various  stations  of  approximately 
5,000,000  letters,  cards,  and  circulars,  800,000  papers, 
periodicals,  and  pieces  of  printed  matter  and  small 
parcel-post  packages,  and  65,000  bulky  parcel-post 
packages,  or,  in  all,  close  to  6,000,000  pieces  of  mail  of 
all  classes. 

But  the  delivery  of  mail  is  only  part  of  the  story,  for 
it  is  estimated  that  the  public  mail  daily  in  the  various 
chutes,  classified  station  ''drops/'  and  street  letter 
boxes,  etc.,  approximate  5,000,000  pieces  of  first-class 
mail  and  several  million  circulars,  all  of  which  have  to 
be  gathered  together  and  put  through  the  various  pro- 
cesses of  cancellation,  sorting,  etc.,  before  the  actual 
work  of  delivery  or  despatch  begins. 

The  tremendous  magnitude  of  the  business  of  the 
various  stations  is  shown  not  only  in  the  volume  of 
mail  received  and  delivered,  but  in  the  sale  of  stamps, 
the  collection  of  postage  on  second-class  matter,  etc., 
constituting  the  receipts. 

The  receipts  at  the  City  Hall  Station,  for  instance, 
are  greater  than  the  receipts  of  any  post-office  in  the 
United  States  except  Chicago,  111.,  Philadelphia,  Pa., 

[47] 


and  Boston,  Mass.,  as  shown  by  the  table  below,  giving 
figures  for  the  fiscal  year  .1921.  In  the  case  of  all  the 
offices  named,  the  figures  include  not  only  the  main 
office  but  all  the  stations  of  the  offices.  In  the  case 
of  the  City  Hall  Station  alone,  the  figures  are  for  this 
unit  exclusively,  and  no  other  point. 

RECEIPTS  FOR  FISCAL  YEAR  1921 

Chicago,    111 142,71 1,561 

Philadelphia,  Pa 1 5,588,738 

Boston,  Mass 1 1,597,061 

City  Hall  Station 9,749,018 

Saint  Louis,  Mo 8,722,633 

Kansas  City,  Mo 6,490,018 

Cleveland,  Ohio 6,218,695 

Detroit,  Mich 5,742,835 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y 5,695,037 

San  Francisco,  Cal 5,623,409 

Pittsburgh,  Pa 5,298,504 

Cincinnati,  Ohio 4,663,323 

Minneapolis,  Minn 4,606,689 

Los  Angeles,  Cal 4,580,969 

Baltimore,  Md 4,323,525 

Washington,  D.  C 3,661,760 

Buffalo,  N.  Y 3,438,497 

Milwaukee,  Wis 3,31 1,922 

From  these  figures  it  will  also  be  seen  that  the  re- 
ceipts of  the  City  Hall  Station  are  greater  than  the 
receipts  of  the  entire  city  of  Saint  Louis,  as  great  as  the 
receipts  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  com- 
bined, as  great  as  the  receipts  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  and 
Washington,  D.  C.,  combined,  as  great  as  those  of 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  combined,  or 
those  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  Minneapolis,  Minn., 
combined. 

[48] 


The  rapid  increase  in  the  volume  of  business  at  the 
City  Hall  Station  is  shown  by  the  following  figures  of 
receipts : 

Calendar  Year 

1915     $6,587,228.98 

1916    7,124,138.76 

1917  •••• 7>544>849-70 

1918  8,162,774.76 

.1919  9,188,449.66 

1920  10,253,435.42 

Increase  in  five  years — 55.65  per  cent. 
City  Hall  is  not  the  only  station  of  great  receipts,  as 
the  following  statistics  show: 

RECEIPTS  FOR  FISCAL  YEAR  1921-2 

Madison  Square  Station  $5,458,705.90 

Grand  Central  Station 4,582,718.87 

Wall  Street  Station  2,81 5,963.56 

Station  "D" 2,354,165.33 

Times  Square  Station 2,323,791.88 

West  43d  Street  Station  . . . 1,742,125.04 

Station  "P" 1,688,795.83 

Station   "G"    ,540,499.66 

Station  "O"  ,523,785.14 

Station  "F"   ,432,161.03 

Station  "S"   ,192,883.02 

Station  "A" ,138,459.07 

In  addition  to  the  actual  receipts  of  the  various  sta- 
tions, made  up  by  the  sale  of  stamps,  etc.,  as  described, 
their  financial  transactions  incident  to  the  money-order 
and  postal-savings  business  are  tremendous,  as  will 
later  be  shown  in  detail  under  the  heading  "Division  of 
Money-Orders"  and  "Postal  Savings";  suffice  it  to  say 
here  that  the  City  Hall  Station  issued  last  year  money- 

[49] 


orders  to  the  value  of  $3,183,209,  and  the  Madison 
Square  Station  money-orders  to  the  value  of  $2,004,- 
273,  while  Station  "B"  had  to  the  credit  of  its  postal- 
savings  depositors  $6,786,622,  Tompkins  Square  Sta- 
tion, $5,580,389,  and  Station  "U,"  $4,595,974- 

How  greatly  the  business  of  the  stations  has  grown 
is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  in  1875  the  gross  receipts 
for  the  year  amounted  to  but  $3,166,946.19,  which  is 
less  than  the  receipts  for  one  month  at  the  present  time, 
the  receipts  for  last  July  amounting  to  $3,82 1,095.94. 

To  those  who  are  now  enjoying  the  advantage  of  free 
delivery  service  it  seems  that  it  is  the  natural  thing,  and 
it  is  difficult  for  them  to  realize  how  a  busy  community 
could  get  along  without  it,  yet  as  a  matter  of  fact  it 
was  not  established  until  1863,  when  it  was  experi- 
mentally installed  in  forty-nine  cities,  with  but  449 
carriers,  which  number  is  about  a  seventh  of  those  em- 
ployed at  the  present  time  in  New  York  alone. 

The  number  of  stations  has  also  increased  rapidly. 
In  1889  there  were  but  eighteen  classified  stations  and 
twenty  contract  stations  in  New  York,  while  to-day,  as 
previously  mentioned,  there  are  forty-eight  of  the 
former,  two  financial,  and  271  contract  stations  author- 
ized, and  also  forty-one  Warship  Branches. 

Foreign  Mail  for  City  Delivery 

The  receipts  of  foreign  mail  from  Europe  is  increasing 
very  rapidly.  During  the  month  of  July,  1922,  there 
was  received  for  delivery  in  New  York  City  from  for- 
eign countries  3,372,767  letters  and  2577  sacks  of  for- 
eign papers. 

The  task  of  handling  the  city  mail  received  from 

[50] 


[51] 


steamers  is  particularly  trying,  since  many  of  the  ad- 
dresses are  difficult  to  read,  insufficient  postage  is  pre- 
paid in  many  cases,  and  it  comes  not  in  a  steady  flow 
but  in  quantities  at  one  time;  and  it  is,  of  course,  al- 
ways in  addition  to  the  regular  daily  quota  of  domestic 
matter.  In  exemplification  of  this  it  may  be  said  that 
on  August  n,  1922,  a  single  steamer,  the  Mauretania, 
brought  in  8553  sacks  of  letters. 

The  Division  of  Mails 

The  Division  of  Mails  embraces  the  Division  of  Deliv- 
ery, which  has  already  been  described,  the  great  ter- 
minal stations,  that  is,  the  Grand  Central  Station  (in- 
cluding the  Foreign  Station  Annex) ;  also  the  Division 
of  Registered  Mails  and  the  Motor  Vehicle  Service. 
All  of  these,  as  previously  mentioned,  are  under  the 
general  supervision  of  Acting  Assistant  Postmaster 
Randies.  The  Division  of  Mails  proper,  exclusive  of 
the  Division  of  Delivery  and  of  the  Division  of  Regis- 
tered Mails,  is  under  the  acting  superintendent  of  mails, 
Mr.  Peter  A.  McGurty.  Mr.  McGurty  was  formerly 
assistant  superintendent  of  delivery,  and  has  been 
in  the  postal  service  in  New  York  since  1897.  Mr. 
McGurty,  like  other  division  heads,  served  first  as  a 
clerk,  and  rose  gradually,  grade  by  grade,  to  his  pres- 
ent position.  In  the  Mailing  Division  there  are  4942 
employees.  The  duties  of  the  Mailing  Division  are 
many  and  varied.  In  the  main  it  is  responsible  for  the 
distribution  and  despatch  of  all  outgoing  mail,  includ- 
ing the  parcel  post.  It  is  in  itself  a  complex  organi- 
zation, employing  not  only  the  army  of  men  above  men- 
tioned but  an  enormous  fleet  of  motor  vehicles  and 

[52] 


complex  mechanical  equipment  for  the  conveyance  of 
mail  from  one  part  of  an  office  to  another,  and  the  load- 
ing of  it  upon  railroad  cars,  ships,  etc.  The  average 
daily  transactions  of  the  division  are  as  follows: 

Outgoing  letters 3,965,023 

Circulars  1,917,190 

Second-  and  third-class  matter 1,620,250 

Parcel-post  matter 363,805 

Customs  due  matter 800 

Collections  on  customs  due  matter $2,500 

One  duty  of  the  Mailing  Division  is  the  weighing  of 
second-  and  third-class  matter  to  determine  the  postage 
required  thereon.  The  daily  average  of  the  matter 
thus  weighed  is  approximately  343,000  pounds,  and  on 
this  postage  is  collected  to  the  amount  of  approximately 
$10,500. 

In  order  to  make  clear  what  is  involved  in  the  hand- 
ling of  a  great  volume  of  mail  such  as  is  disposed  of 
daily  in  this  division  of  the  New  York  office,  it  may  be 
well  to  describe  the  course  that  is  followed  by  a  single 
letter.  Assume  that  a  letter  is  mailed  in  a  street  letter- 
box, in  the  district  of  a  great  terminal ;  it  is  brought  in 
by  a  collector,  who  deposits  it  upon  a  long  table  sur- 
rounded by  many  employees.  The  table  is  likely  to 
be  what  is  known  as  a  "pick-up  table/'  which  is  one 
equipped  with  conveyor  belts  and  convenient  slide 
apertures  for  letters  of  different  lengths,  and  into  these 
apertures,  with  nimble  fingers,  the  clerks  grouped 
around  it  separate  the  mass  of  letters  received,  placing 
the  letters  with  all  the  stamps  in  one  direction.  As 
quickly  as  they  do  so,  the  conveyor  belts  carry  the  let- 
ters, according  to  the  different  sizes  into  which  they 
have  been  separated,  to  the  electrically-driven  cancel- 

[53] 


ing  machines.  These  canceling  machines  are  operated 
by  a  second  group  of  employees,  who  feed  in  the  letters, 
which  are  canceled  at  the  rate  of  approximately  25,000 
letters  per  hour.  The  whirling  dies  by  which  are  im- 
printed the  postmarks  which  cancel  the  stamps  revolve 
at  almost  lightning  speed.  These  postmarks  are 
changed  each  half-hour,  and  the  aim  is  to  postmark 
the  letters  as  rapidly  as  they  come  to  hand,  so  that  but 
a  few  minutes  intervene  between  the  time  of  mailing 
and  time  of  postmark.  This  postmark  is,  in  fact,  the 
pace-maker.  Once  it  is  imprinted  upon  a  letter,  it  can 
be  determined  by  the  postmark  at  any  time  just  how 
long  a  time  has  been  required  for  it  to  reach  a  particu- 
lar point  in  the  progress  toward  despatch. 

From  the  postmarking  machine  the  letters  are  car- 
ried, sometimes  by  conveyors,  sometimes  by  hand,  and 
sometimes  by  small  trucks,  to  what  are  known  as  the 
"primary  separating  cases."  These  cases  are  manned 
by  employees  who  separate  the  letters  into  groups,  ac- 
cording to  certain  divisions  which  facilitate  the  sec- 
ondary and  further  distributions.  Thus  at  the  primary 
cases  the  letters  are  likely  to  be  broken  up  into  lots  for 
the  city  delivery,  for  many  different  States,  for  foreign 
countries,  and  for  certain  large  cities.  Each  separation 
on  the  primary  case  will  likely  be  followed  by  a  sec- 
ondary separation  almost  immediately.  A  sufficient 
number  of  men  is  kept  on  the  facing  or  pick-up  tables, 
on  the  primary  cases,  and  on  the  secondary  cases  and 
pouching  racks,  to  maintain  a  continuous  movement 
of  the  mails.  The  aim  is  to  keep  the  mail  moving  not 
only  continuously  from  the  point  of  posting  to  the 
point  of  delivery,  as  nearly  in  a  direct  line  as  practi- 
cable, but  rapidly  also,  and  with  only  an  arresting  of 

[54] 


the  movement  when  this  is  made  necessary  by  awaiting 
the  departure  of  the  next  train. 

From  the  secondary  cases  the  letters  are  carried  to 
the  pouching  rack.  By  the  time  they  reach  the  pouch- 
ing rack  they  are  made  up  into  bundles,  various  letters 
for  the  same  localities  having  been  segregated  and  tied 
together.  In  some  instances  the  packages  of  letters  are 
tagged  or  labeled  for  States,  in  others  for  cities,  and 
still  others  for  railroad  lines  or  for  sections  of  such 
lines. 

The  handling  of  papers  and  circulars  is  much  the 
same,  so  far  as  distribution  is  concerned,  as  the  hand- 
ling of  letters,  though  there  is  considerable  variation 
as  to  the  details  of  segregation. 


Carriers  sorting  mail  in  the  General  Post  Office. 

[551 


With  this  distribution  of  the  mails  there  goes  a  sys- 
tem of  despatches.  In  respect  to  these  it  may  be  said 
that  it  is  essential  that  various  clerks  engaged  in  the 
process  as  described  shall  know  the  time  of  departure 
of  the.  many  trains  leaving  New  York  for  different 
points.  They  must  know  how  much  time  in  advance 
of  departure  is  essential  between  "tying  out"  the  pack- 
ages of  letters  and  the  actual  departure  of  the  train 
from  the  station,  and  thereby  allow  sufficient  time,  but 
no  more  time  than  is  absolutely  necessary,  to  make  the 
connection.  Every  detail  of  the  work  is  plotted;  noth- 
ing is  left  to  chance.  At  a  certain  hour  and  at  a  certain 
minute  every  clerk  engaged  in  the  same  distribution 
at  the  same  station  ties  out  for  the  same  office  or  route, 
and  likewise  at  the  pouching  rack  the  pouches  are 
closed,  locked,  and  despatched  according  to  a  fixed 
schedule.  If  the  pouch  has  to  be  carried  from  the  rack 
to  the  truck  a  given  number  of  feet,  a  time  allowance 
is  made.  At  a  set  time  the  truck  that  conveys  the 
pouches  to  the  station  whence  the  train  is  to  depart 
must  leave.  The  time  for  the  vehicle  to  traverse  the 
prescribed  route  is  fixed;  sufficient  time  for  this  and  not 
more  is  allowed.  Also  the  time  for  unloading  the  truck 
and  loading  the  train  is  fixed.  When  it  is  understood 
that  this  course  has  to  be  followed  by  every  one  of  the 
millions  of  letters  handled,  and  that  there  are  50,000 
offices  in  the  United  States  to  which  mail  is  forwarded, 
and  that  in  addition  to  this  it  is  being  distributed  for 
practically  every  city,  town,  and  hamlet  in  the  world, 
the  complexity  of  the  task  becomes  apparent.  From 
the  General  Post-office  alone  there  are  as  many  as  457 
despatches  of  first-class  mail  daily,  and  forty-five  des- 
patches of  second-,  third-,  and  fourth-class  matter. 

[56] 


Within  the  last  few  years  the  burden  of  the  parcel 
post  has  been  added  to  the  duties  of  the  post-office.  It 
is  estimated  that  75,000  pieces  of  parcel-post  matter  are 
handled  at  the  General  Post-office  daily,  and  that 
65,000  additional  pieces  of  this  matter  are  received  at 
the  same  point  from  the  stations. 

Parcel-post  packages  are  commonly  very  bulky. 
Such  may  now  be  mailed  for  local  delivery  and  for 
delivery  in  the  first,  second,  and  third  zones,  that  is, 
within  three  hundred  miles  of  the  place  of  mailing,  if 
they  do  not  exceed  seventy  pounds  in  weight,  while 
packages  not  in  excess  of  fifty  pounds  may  be  mailed 
to  any  address  in  the  United  States.  The  handling  of 
these  packages  necessitates  the  use  of  entirely  different 
character  of  equipment.  As  far  as  it  is  practicable  to 
do  so,  this  matter  is  segregated  from  mail  of  the  other 
classes.  Many  of  the  packages  are  too  large  to  be  in- 
closed readily  in  mail  sacks,  and  are  forwarded  "out- 
side." In  the  distribution  of  parcel-post  matter,  sack 
racks  are  used  into  which  all  parcels  which  are  small 
enough  to  be  sacked  are  separated.  The  distribution, 
as  in  the  other  classes,  is  made  at  primary  and  second- 
ary racks. 

A  feature  of  the  Mailing  Division  is  the  handling  of 
such  equipment,  as  pouches,  sacks,  etc.,  intended  to  be 
used  for  the  transportation  of  the  mails.  Approxi- 
mately 69,000  sacks  and  18,000  pouches  are  shipped 
by  the  New  York  General  office  daily. 

The  Mailing  Division — Incoming  Foreign  Section 

In  this  section  mails  are  handled  which  are  received 
from  foreign  countries.    These  arrive  chiefly  on  steam- 

[57] 


ers  that  make  New  York  their  port  of  destination. 
Some  of  the  foreign  mails,  however,  reach  New  York 
via  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Key  West,  New  Orleans, 
Laredo,  San  Francisco,  Seattle,  and  Vancouver.  The 
number  of  pieces  of  mail  received  from  foreign  coun- 
tries weekly  by  this  section  approximates  3,639,000 


Carriers  leaving  the  General  Post  Office 
on  an  early  morning  delivery. 


letters  and  cards,  2,631,000  pieces  of  printed  matter, 
15,000  packages  of  parcel  post,  and  568,500  registered 
articles.  These  are  forwarded  to  their  destination  after 
distribution.  Many  of  the  letters  and  cards  are  not 
prepaid,  or  are  prepaid  but  partly,  and  the  postage 
charged  on  such  matter  approximates  $14,200  each 
week. 

Owing  to  the  unsettled  conditions  in  Europe  the  rates 

[58] 


of  postage  in  foreign  countries  are  continually  chang- 
ing. As  a  result  of  the  depreciation  of  Russian  cur- 
rency, letters  coming  from  that  country  have  recently 
been  prepaid  at  the  rate  of  450,000  rubles  per  ounce  or 
fraction  thereof.  Prior  to  the  war  a  ruble  was  worth 
approximately  51.46  cents.  The  450,000  rubles  are 


Mail  at  the  Post  Office  ready  to  be  loaded  onto  trucks. 

now  equivalent  to  fifty  centimes  of  gold,  or  ten  cents 
in  United  States  currency. 

Many  peculiarities  are  noted  in  the  addresses  of  in- 
coming foreign  letters.  Very  frequently  a  letter  will 
bear  upon  the  envelop  a  copy  of  a  business  letter-head 
or  bill-head.  This  is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
some  one  in  this  country  when  writing  to  Europe  will 
direct  his  correspondent  to  address  the  expected  answer 
according  to  the  address  on  the  letter-head  or  bill-head 

[59] 


he  uses,  and  the  foreigner,  not  knowing  what  to  select 
from  whatever  is  printed,  takes  what  he  regards  to  be 
the  safe  course  and  copies  all.  A  letter  will  sometimes 
be  found  to  bear  a  full  list  of  everything  sold  in  a  coun- 
try store,  including  hardware,  provisions,  clothing, 
shoes,  and  periodicals  and  newspapers.  In  other  cases 
the  senders  cut  short  the  addresses  and  are  satisfied  if, 
in  addition  to  their  correspondent's  name,  they  give 
"America"  spelled  in  any  way  that  suits  them  best,  and 
the  ways  are  legion. 

Mailing  Division — Motor  Vehicle  Service 

The  Motor  Vehicle  Service  of  the  New  York  post-office 
is  in  charge  of  Mr.  William  M.  Taggart.  The  fleet 
consists  of  329  vehicles.  All  these  are  owned  by  the 
Government.  The  Government  likewise  makes  its  own 
repairs,  employs  its  own  chauffeurs  and  mechanics, 
painters,  upholsterers,  and  various  artisans  incidental 
to  the  operation,  repair,  and  maintenance  of  the  vehi- 
cles. There  are  two  garages,  and  in  all  727  men  are 
employed.  The  garages  include  fully  equipped  ma- 
chine-shops, and  stock-rooms  in  which  are  constantly 
kept  duplicate  parts  for  all  the  machines  in  use. 

The  magnitude  of  the  service  will  be  realized  when 
it  is  known  that  during  the  last  fiscal  year  the  vehicles 
traveled  4,330,102  miles,  or  174  times  the  distance 
around  the  world. 

During  the  last  fiscal  year  the  motor  vehicle  service 
made  646,967  trips,  according  to  predetermined  sched- 
ules, and  67,053  trips  which  were  not  scheduled  but  of 
an  emergency  character.  This  gave  a  total  of  713,020 
trips.  Of  this  vast  number  of  trips,  scheduled  and 

[60] 


emergency,  there  were  but  747  which  were  but  partly 
performed  and  but  1323  which  failed. 

These  trucks  are  maintained  in  a  condition  for  opera- 
tion at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night.  No  matter  what 
weather  conditions  prevail,  the  mails  must  be  moved, 
and  the  motor  vehicles  must  be  maintained  in  a  condi- 


Mail  trucks  loaded  -with  parcel  post  matter  to  be  transported 
to  different  stations  in  the  city. 

tion  of  efficient  repair  to  permit  of  their  utilization  in 
this  work.  Every  detail  of  expenditure  for  the  fleet  is 
maintained  on  a  strictly  scientific  cost  accounting  basis, 
the  number  of  gallons  of  oil,  the  service  of  the  tires,  the 
cost  of  operation  per  mile,  with  and  without  chauffeur, 
are  all  a  matter  of  record.  The  repairs  made  on  each 
machine  are  carefully  recorded,  with  the  cost  for  the 
parts  and  the  cost  of  the  mechanical  help  figured  sep- 

[61] 


arately,  so  that  it  is  ascertainable  from  the  records 
what  was  spent  under  this  heading  for  each  vehicle  dur- 
ing each  month  and  year. 

Mailing  Division — Transportation  Section 

The  Transportation  Section,  under  Assistant  Superin- 
tendent of  Mails  John  J.  McKelvey,  is  closely  coordi- 
nated with  the  motor  vehicle  section.  The  duty  of  this 
section  is  to  effect  the  loading  of  the  vehicles  and  to 
arrange  the  schedules  so  as  effectively  to  move  the  mails 
from  the  point  at  which  they  are  made  up  to  their 
despatch  by  train,  or  delivery  to  some  station  or  group 
of  stations.  How  great  is  the  volume  of  mail  handled 
will  be  understood  when  it  is  said  that  from  the  Gen- 
eral Post-office  alone  the  average  number  of  pouches 
received  and  despatched  daily  is  approximately  16,000, 
while  the  average  number  of  sacks  received  and  des- 
patched is  approximately  80,000.  The  pouches  con- 
tain first-class  mail  and  the  sacks  contain  mail  of  other 
classes.  The  average  number  of  pieces  received  and 
despatched  daily,  too  large  to  be  inserted  in  either  sacks 
or  pouches,  is  approximately  1 5,000.  At  each  of  the 
great  terminals  there  are  'very  extensive  platforms; 
the  one  at  the  City  Hall  Station  is  a  block  long;  that  at 
the  General  Post-office  two  blocks  long,  and  these  plat- 
forms are  under  the  control  of  the  transportation  de- 
partment. During  the  hours  when  the  mails  are  being 
despatched  they  are  among  the  busiest  spots  in  the 
postal  system.  As  many  as  1200  trucks  commonly 
receive  and  discharge  mail  from  the  General  Post-office 
platform  daily.  Other  platforms  are  correspondingly 
busy. 

[62] 


The  Pneumatic  Tubes 

I  The  pneumatic  tube  service  has  now  been  resumed 
between  the  General  Post-office,  the  terminals,  and  cer- 
tain of  the  principal  stations  of  the  New  York  postal 
system,  which  was  discontinued  June  30,  1918,  owing  to 
the  antagonism  to  this  method  of  transportation  on  the 
part  of  the  then  postmaster-general,  Mr.  Albert 
Burleson.  Legislation  has  been  enacted  and  depart- 
mental action  taken  within  the  last  year  to  bring  about 
the  resumption  of  operation  of  this  valuable  system. 
The  pneumatic  tubes  form  what  is  practically  a  great 
loop  running  north  in  two  branches  from  the  City  Hall. 
One  branch  goes  up  the  east  side  of  the  city,  east  of  Cen- 
tral Park,  and  the  other  up  the  west  side,  west  of  Cen- 
tral Park,  the  two  lines  being  joined  together  at  12 5th 
Street  by  a  line  running  east  and  west.  This  loop  and 
its  extensions  link  the  General  Post-office  and  the 
following  named  stations:  A,  C,  D,  F,  G,  H,  I,  J,  K,  L, 
N,  O,  P,  U,  V,  W,  Y,  Grand  Central,  Madison  Square, 
Times  Square,  Wall  Street,  City  Hall,  and  Varick 
Street.  The  City  Hall  Station  is  also  connected 
with  the  Brooklyn  General  Post-office.  The  pneumatic 
tubes  are  located  four  to  six  feet  below  the  surface  of 
the  city's  streets,  and  through  these  tubes  cylindrical 
steel  containers  are  forced  by  compressed  air.  The  con- 
tainers are  approximately  seven  inches  in  diameter  and 
twenty-one  inches  long,  and  the  pressure  of  air  is  suffi- 
cient to  impel  them  at  the  rate  of  about  thirty  miles  per 
hour.  Containers  carry  from  500  to  700  letters  each, 
and  can  be  despatched  as  frequently  as  one  every  eight 
or  ten  seconds.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  by  means 
of  the  pneumatic  tubes  a  practically  continuous  flow  of 

[63] 


the  mails  can  be  maintained  between  stations.  The 
pneumatic  tubes  are  not  owned  by  the  Government,  but 
the  service  is  leased  on  a  yearly  rental  basis.  Under 
the  terms  of  the  lease  the  company  that  owns  the  tube 
system  operates  it,  and  the  Government  delivers  to 
the  despatching  points  within  the  different  stations 
and  terminals  the  mail  to  be  transported.  Upon  arrival 
at  its  destination  the  mail  is  again  delivered  to  the 
postal  employees,  who  are  ready  to  receive  it. 

There  are  approximately  twenty-eight  miles  of  dou- 
ble tubes,  so  that  mail  can  be  despatched  in  both  direc- 
tions at  the  same  time.  During  the  period  the  system 
was  in  operation  before  the  tubes  conveyed  the  mails 
with  remarkable  efficiency,  and  it  is  said  that  as  to  stop- 
pages and  breakdowns,  etc.,  their  operation  was  99.79 
per  cent,  perfect.  In  one  day  27,243  containers  were 
despatched  through  the  tubes,  with  a  total  capacity  of 
more  than  10,000,000  letters.  They  averaged  for  a 
year,  though  not  used  to  maximum  capacity,  5,000,000 
letters  a  day.  One  advantage  of  the  pneumatic  tubes  is 
their  freedom  from  interruption  by  inclement  weather. 
As  the  tubes  are  below  the  surface  of  the  street,  condi- 
tions of  ice,  snow,  and  sleet,  which  are  embarrassing  to 
motor  vehicles,  do  not  interrupt  operation.  At  different 
times  in  several  of  our  cities  vehicles  conveying  the 
mails  have  been  "held  up/'  but  with  the  tubes,  rob- 
bery is  practically  impossible.  It  is  anticipated  that 
with  the  tube  system  resumed  a  large  percentage  of 
the  letter  mail  intended  both  for  city  delivery  and  for 
despatch  to  other  points  will  be  materially  advanced  in 
delivery. 

The  Foreign  Station  of  the  New  York  post-office 
stands  out  among  the  postal  activities  of  the  country 

[64] 


for  it  is  the  station  at  which  are  made  up  all  mails  in- 
tended for  foreign  countries,  with  few  exceptions,  such 
as  Canada.  The  superintendent  of  the  station  is  Mr. 
Thomas  J.  Walters,  who  has  been  connected  with  it 
for  many  years.  It  is  a  busy  place,  particularly  just 
before  the  departure  of  a  steamer,  when  every  effort  is 
exerted  to  despatch  all  mail  that  can  be  crowded  in,  up 
to  the  very  last  minute.  This  station  has  grown  in  a 
comparatively  short  time  and  from  a  very  small  begin- 
ning. In  1885  the  average  weekly  number  of  sacks 
made  up  for  all  parts  of  the  world  was  only  1200;  by 
1890  the  number  had  grown  to  1900;  by  1900  it  had 
reached  about  4500;  in  1910  the  figures  were  10,000, 
and  at  the  present  time  the  average  is  approximately 
18,000  sacks  weekly.  Mail  is  forwarded  to  the  Foreign 
Station  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  is  here 
distributed  for  the  various  foreign  countries  and  cities 
for  which  it  is  intended.  In  this  distribution  expert 
knowledge  of  foreign  geography  and  political  divisions 
is  required,  for  a  large  percentage  of  the  mail  received 
is  indefinitely  directed,  and  only  an  expert  could  deter- 
mine for  what  points  much  of  it  is  intended.  The  shift- 
ing map  of  Europe  has  added  greatly  to  the  difficulties, 
for  many  correspondents  in  this  country  are  still 
ignorant  of  the  new  boundaries. 

In  the  equipment  of  this  station  are  hundreds  of  dis- 
tribution cases,  and  many  of  the  letters  which  the 
experts  at  these  cases  rapidly  sort  are  actually  so 
poorly  written  that  the  average  man  would  not  be 
able  to  decipher  them  without  much  study. 

One  interesting  feature  of  the  Foreign  Station  is  the 
parcel-post  section.  The  United  States  now  has  parcel- 
post  conventions  with  many  foreign  countries,  and  the 

[65] 


Exhibits  used  for  educational  work  in  postal 
improvement  campaign. 

[66] 


volume  of  this  business  is  growing  very  rapidly.  The 
rate  of  postage  is  but  twelve  cents  a  pound,  and  for  this 
small  fee  a  package  will  be  accepted,  even  in  distant 
California  or  Oregon,  transmitted  across  the  conti- 
nent, over  the  ocean,  and  to  a  destination  in  South 
America,  Europe,  or  elsewhere.  In  the  early  days  of 
the  parcel-post  it  was  used  chiefly  by  the  person  who 
had  friends  or  relatives  in  Europe  and  wished  to  send 
a  present  to  them,  but  it  is  now  being  used  very  ex- 
tensively in  commercial  transactions.  By  this  means 
goods  ordered  from  abroad  are  forwarded  by  the  great 
mail-order  houses,  and  the  total  volume  of  this  busi- 
ness is  large. 

Much  difficulty  is  experienced  in  inducing  senders 
of  mail  matter  to  wrap  it  securely.  A  long  campaign 
of  education  has  been  conducted,  but  there  is  still  room 
for  improvement,  as  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  four 
clerks  are  engaged  repacking,  rewrapping,  and  repair- 
ing packages  not  properly  and  safely  wrapped,  and 
supplying  addresses  in  the  case  of  indefinite  direc- 
tions, etc. 

With  the  increase  in  the  volume  of  the  mail  there 
has  been  an  increase  in  the  number  of  ships  carrying 
the  mails,  and  so,  while  in  August,  1873,  there  were  but 
thirty-four  vessels  carrying  mail  that  sailed  from  New 
York,  during  July,  1922,  180  such  vessels  sailed;  on  a 
single  day  twenty  ships  left  this  port  carrying  a  total  of 
1 1,299  sacks.  During  the  month  of  July,  1922,  97,000 
sacks  of  mail  were  shipped,  a  quantity  that  would  tax 
the  capacity  of  a  large  warehouse. 

A  special  feature  of  the  service  is  the  operation  of 
post-offices  on  U.  S.  naval  vessels.  There  are  more 
than  fifty  such  post-offices,  serving  the  convenience 

[67] 


of  the  boys  in  blue.  Whether  the  naval  vessels  are 
equipped  with  post-offices  or  not,  the  Foreign  Station 
is  kept  posted  as  to  their  movements  by  the  Navy  De- 
partment, and  special  efforts  are  made  to  so  forward 
all  mail  received  as  to  reach  the  addressee  at  the  first 
port  of  call. 

During  the  war  the  Foreign  Station  experienced 
many  trying  times  in  its  efforts  to  get  American  mail 
to  destination.  The  sailing  time  of  ships  was  seldom 
known  much  in  advance  of  actual  sailing,  and  the 
utmost  secrecy  was  maintained  as  to  vessel  move- 
ments. The  Navy  Department  advised  the  Foreign 
Station  of  the  intended  sailing  of  vessels  by  cipher, 
though  such  information  was  most  jealously  guarded. 
The  utmost  caution  was  taken  in  the  making  out  of 
address  tags,  etc.,  to  conceal  the  identity  of  the  vari- 
ous units,  the  mail  for  which  had  to  go  out  by  the  dif- 
ferent ships,  and  throughout  the  war  there  was  not  a 
single  leak.  The  service  performed  during  this  trying 
time  by  the  employees  of  the  Foreign  Station  were  so 
conspicuously  efficient  as  repeatedly  to  win  approba- 
tion. 

A  recapitulation  of  the  several  classes  of  mail  des- 
patched from  this  station  to  foreign  countries  is  shown 
below  and  indicates  the  rapidity  of  its  growth : 

1914  1921 

Letters 1 10,121,846  140,654,326 

Printed  Matter,  etc.. .  53,940,035  101,905,335 

Circulars    12,170,937  1 5477.570 

Registered  Articles  . .  4,372,889  10,238,298 

Parcel  Post   57^997  1,920,580 

Total  number  of  ar- 
ticles despatched.  181,177,704 270,196,109 

[68] 


The  Registry  Department 

One  of  the  most  important  departments  of  the  New 
York  post-office  is  the  Registry  Division,  which  is 
under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Joseph  Willon.  Mr. 
Willon  has  been  long  in  the  postal  service,  and  for 
many  years  prior  to  his  present  assignment  was  super- 
intendent of  some  of  the  larger  stations  of  the  city, 
including  the  one  at  Times  Square. 

In  the  Registry  Division  at  the  General  Post-office 
550  persons  are  employed;  at  the  City  Hall  Station, 
130;  and  at  the  Foreign  Station  there  is  a  large  force, 
assigned  exclusively  to  the  handling  of  the  foreign 
registered  mails. 

The  registered  mails  are  the  most  important  and 
the  most  valuable.  Just  how  valuable  they  are  no  one 
knows,  but  millions  of  dollars  in  cash  and  securities 
are  handled  daily,  and  the  banks  as  well  as  other  finan- 
cial and  commercial  interests  of  the  country  would  be 
seriously  affected  if  the  registry  system  ceased  to  oper- 
ate, even  for  a  brief  period.  Some  idea  as  to  the 
enormous  values  handled  by  the  registry  department 
may  be  gained  from  the  fact  that  during  the  last  fiscal 
year  7546  packages  containing  diamonds  only  were 
received  from  abroad,  the  dutiable  value  of  which 
approximated  $150,000,000.  In  all,  73,000  packages 
were  received  that  were  regarded  as  dutiable.  Not- 
withstanding the  enormous  values  handled,  the  per- 
centage of  losses  is  exceedingly  small. 

According  to  the  last  report  of  the  postmaster-gen- 
eral, throughout  the  United  States  the  number  of  reg- 
istered pieces  amounted  to  78,205,014.  The  New 
York  post-office  handled  41,592,423,  or  more  than  half 

[69] 


of  the  total.  As  stated,  the  percentage  of  losses  is 
small,  and  in  the  case  of  first-class  registered  matter 
of  domestic  origin  there  is  an  indemnity  up  to  fifty 
dollars,  and  for  the  matter  of  the  third  class  an  in- 
demnity up  to  twenty-five  dollars.  Under  the  agree- 
ments that  prevail  with  certain  foreign  countries 
provision  is  also  made  for  indemnifying  the  owners 
under  certain  circumstances  where  foreign  losses 
occur. 

The  handling  of  registered  mail  differs  chiefly  from 
the  handling  of  ordinary  mail  in  the  extra  care  which 
is  taken  to  safe-guard  it.  The  aim  is  to  record  it 
at  the  time  of  receipt,  and  to  thereafter  require  all 
persons  handling  it  to  account  for  it  as  it  passes 
through  their  hands  along  its  route.  Receipts  are  re- 
quired at  all  points,  and  the  letters  are  forwarded  in 
pouches  secured  by  "rotary  locks/'  provided  with  cer- 
tain numbers  running  in  sequence,  controlled  mechan- 
ically, the  mechanism  being  such  that  the  lock  cannot 
be  opened  without  raising  the  number  at  which  the 
lock  was  set.  If  the  lock  is  tampered  with  in  transit, 
since  record  is  made  of  the  number  set  when  it  was 
despatched,  the  circumstance  is  apparent. 

REGISTERED  ARTICLES  HANDLED  AT 

NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.,  YEAR  ENDING 

DECEMBER  31,  1921 


Station          N.  Y.  City 


Distribution 


G.  P.  0 10,927,723  . .  12,144,069 

City  Hall . .     2,848,002  . .    2,832,993 
Foreign 132,250 

Total  ...   13,775,725  ••  15,109,312 

[70] 


Foreign 

Total  No.  of 
Pieces 
Handled 

2,331,683 

.  .  25,403,475 

230,124 
10,143,579 

..     5,911,119 
.  .  10,277,829 

12,705,386  ..  41,592,423 


The  Division  of  Money-orders  and  the  Postal  Savings 

The  financial  transactions  of  the  New  York  post-office 
are  of  enormous  volume.  Through  its  Division  of 
Money-orders  it  issues  and  pays  money-orders  of  a 
value  comparable  with  the  business  of  the  large  banks 
of  the  city.  The  Postal  Savings  System  also  has  on 
deposit  a  sum  which  is  exceeded  by  the  deposits  of 
only  nine  savings-banks  in  Manhattan,  and  is  oper- 
ated as  part  of  the  organization  of  the  Division  of 
Money-orders. 

This  division  is  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Albert 
Firmin,  who  has  been  connected  with  the  postal  sys- 
tem within  a  few  months  of  forty  years,  and  in  point 
of  service  is  dean  among  the  division  heads.  It  has 
been  through  Mr.  Firmin's  especial  assistance  that  we 
have  been  able  to  obtain  so  complete  a  story  of  the  New 
York  post-office,  although  every  office  and  every  exec- 
utive has  cooperated  in  every  possible  way,  for 
which  extended  courtesies  we  hereby  make  grateful 
acknowledgment. 

The  New  York  post-office  issues  more  money- 
orders  than  any  office  in  the  United  States.  The  volume 
of  money-order  business,  domestic  and  international, 
for  the  last  five  years,  is  shown  below: 

DOMESTIC  MONEY-ORDERS  ISSUED 

Year  Number  Amount 

1918  ..  ..    2,504,473    .  ..  ...$25,014,403.41 

1919    2,762,021  32,206,933.02 

1920   3*306,613  43,457,921.55 

1921    3.549742 46,699,314.76 

1922   3,846,676 45»339>3i9.i7 

Total 15,969,525  $192,717,891.91 

[71] 


INTERNATIONAL     MONEY-ORDERS     ISSUED 

Year  Number  Amount 

1918  I94>349  $  2,807,166.44 

1919  192,655  2,839,846.28 

1920  122,088  1,824,007.1 1 

1921    76,292   1,161,793.74 

1922    92,303   1,344,494.51 

Total 677,687  $    9,977,308.08 

DOMESTIC  MONEY-ORDERS  PAID 

Year  Number  Amount 

1918    16,869,819   $i  15,059,322.85 

1919  • !6,544>345   132,692,080.13 

1920    18,321,840  174,530,250.50 

1921    16,379,250   155,812,988.47 

1922    ....17,345,209   134,217,183.37 

Total    85,460,463   $712,311,825.32 

INTERNATIONAL  MONEY-ORDERS  PAID 

Year  Number  Amount 

1918    51,443  $  962,232.03 

1919    65,605  1,349,771.29 

1920    73,660  2,560,337.36 

1921    47493  803,782.14 

1922    5<W3  605,932.87 

Total 288,754  1  6,282,055.69 

During  the  fiscal  year  last  past,  722,321  interna- 
tional money-orders,  amounting  to  $9,583,425.62, 
were  certified  to  foreign  countries,  and  112,292  such 
orders  were  certified  from  foreign  countries  to  the 
United  States,  the  total  amount  of  these  being 
$1,802,902.66. 

Occasionally  in  excess  of  100,000  money-orders  are 
paid  in  a  single  day,  and  it  is  the  rule  that  this  volume 
of  business  must  be  balanced  to  a  cent  daily. 

[72] 


Photo  by  Courtesy  of 
Powers  Accounting  Machine  Company 


Money  order  accounting  machines  in  use  at  the  New   York  General 

Post  Office. 


[73] 


The  employees  engaged  in  handling  these  millions 
of  orders  are  held  strictly  accountable  for  the  accu- 
racy of  their  work,  and  if  error  occurs  resulting  in  loss, 
it  must  be  borne  by  the  person  at  fault. 

The  most  modern  methods  of  accounting  are  in  use, 
mechanical  labor-aiding  equipment  being  utilized 
wherever  it  is  practicable.  The  method  followed  is  to 
perforate  a  card  by  means  of  a  small  electric  machine, 
so  that  the  perforations  show  the  various  data  upon 
the  paid  money-order  that  are  required  to  record  the 
payment,  the  amount,  etc.  These  machines  are  oper- 
ated by  skilled  women  employees,  trained  in  methods 
of  accuracy  and  speed,  and  whose  rating  and  advance- 
ment depend  on  their  efficiency. 

The  cards  are  then  fed  into  electrically-driven  add- 
ing- and  printing-machines,  known  as  tabulators, 
which  automatically  print  upon  sheets,  in  columns, 
all  the  data  shown  by  the  perforations  in  the  card. 
From  this  machine  the  cards  are  transferred  to  sorting 
machines,  which  operate  at  great  speed  and  automat- 
ically set  the  cards  up  numerically  according  to  the 
numbers  of  the  offices  which  issued  them.  Thereupon 
other  sheets  are  printed  by  the  tabulators  showing  the 
orders  in  their  new  and  correct  numerical  sequence, 
these  sheets  being  used  for  searching  purposes  in  the 
event  of  applications  being  made  for  duplicates,  etc. 

Various  other  mechanical  devices  are  employed  in 
other  branches  of  the  work,  and  the  equipment  is  in 
all  respects  up  to  date,  and  minimizes  clerical  work  to 
the  greatest  extent. 


[74] 


The  Country  s  Foreign  Exchange  Clearing-House 

In  addition  to  the  work  which  is  usually  done  in  a 
post-office  in  the  issue  and  payment  of  money-orders, 
the  New  York  post-office  is  the  International  Ex- 
change Office  for  the  United  States,  handling  all 
money-orders  passing  between  this  country  and  Eu- 
rope, South  America,  Africa,  etc.  The  volume  of  this 
business  has  been  materially  reduced  since  the  war, 
and  is  affected  by  the  unsettled  condition  of  the  old 
world  finances,  but  it  is  nevertheless  large,  as  shown 
by  the  figures  given  below  for  the  last  fiscal  year. 

Number  Amount 

International  money-orders  certified  to 

foreign   countries    722,321  . .  $9,583,425.62 

International     money-orders     certified 

from  foreign  countries 1 12,292  . .     1,802,902.66 

The  duty  of  purchasing  foreign  exchange  also  falls 
upon  the  New  York  post-office,  and  the  transactions 
in  this  are  at  times  very  heavy.  The  total  financial 
transactions  of  the  Division  of  Money-orders,  exclu- 
sive of  the  postal  savings,  amounted  last  year  to 
$235,133,669.03. 

The  Postal  Savings 

At  practically  all  the  stations  of  the  New  York  office 
there  are  postal-savings  depositories  which  are  open 
to  the  public  from  8  A.M.  to  8  P.M.  The  rate  of  interest 
on  postal  savings  is  but  two  per  cent.,  but  the  advan- 
tage of  absolute  safety  which  the  system  affords  ap- 
peals to  those  who  utilize  it.  Not  more  than  $2500  is 
accepted  from  one  depositor,  but  a  deposit  as  small  as 

[75] 


one  dollar  is  accepted,  and  this  may  even  be  accumu- 
lated by  the  purchase  of  ten-cent  postal-savings 
stamps,  which  are  obtainable  at  all  stations. 

New  York  has  on  deposit  close  to  one  third  of  all 
the  postal-savings  deposits  in  the  United  States. 
There  are  approximately  140,000  depositors  in  Man- 
hattan and  the  Bronx,  and  they  have  to  their  credit  in 
excess  of  $44,000,000.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
New  York  office  is  not  only  a  colossus  among  post- 
offices,  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  postal  facili- 
ties and  postal  business,  but  that  as  a  financial  insti- 
tution as  well  it  is  a  giant. 

Office  of  the  Cashier 

The  cashier  is  the  disbursing  officer  of  the  New  York 
office,  and  he  likewise  receives  all  money  derived  from 
the  sale  of  postage-stamps,  stamped  envelops,  postal 
cards,  and  internal  revenue  stamps  which  are  disposed 
of  at  the  different  stations  and  in  all  the  third-  and 
fourth-class  post-offices  in  thirty-five  counties  in  the 
State  of  New  York.  The  cashier  is  Mr.  E.  P.  Russell, 
and  his  financial  responsibilities  are  great.  The  New 
York  post-office  is  the  depository  for  surplus  postal 
funds  from  all  first-  and  second-class  post-offices  in 
New  York  State,  and  it  likewise  provides  hundreds  of 
offices  with  treasury  savings  stamps  and  certificates, 
and  accounts  for  the  revenue  received  therefrom. 
How  great  is  the  volume  of  business  of  the  cashier's 
office  will  be  seen  from  the  statistics  given  below, 
which  are  for  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  1922. 


[76] 


STAMPS 

Kind  Number 

Ordinary    1,317,465,292 

Postage  due  8,584,300 

Parcel  post   1 50,750 

Proprietary  (revenue)   1,768,763 

Documentary  (revenue)    7,240,444 

Stamps  in  coils 337,852,500 

i  ,673,062,049 

Books  of  stamps 1,403,100 

International  reply  coupons 30,000 

POSTAL  CARDS 

Denomination  Number 

Postal  cards — ic !47»5 i 5>O77 

Postal  cards — 2c 29,242,55 1 

Postal  cards — 4c 1,163,209 

177,920,837 

STAMPED  ENVELOPS 

Kind  Number 

Low-back    95,826,243 

High-back   29>4l  l>7°& 

Open-window    4,671,750 

Extra-quality    466,000 

Special-request    95,371,000 

225,746,701 

TREASURY  STAMPS  AND  CERTIFICATES 
SINCE  DECEMBER  15,  1921 

|     i.oo  stamps 43>oi7 

25.00  certificates  12>471 

100.00  certificates  1 1,403 

1000.00  certificates  i>i95 

If  the  postage  and  revenue  stamps  shown  above 
could  be  placed  lengthwise,  in  one  single  line,  it  would 

[77] 


reach  a  distance  of  26,876  miles,  more  than  enough  to 
encircle  the  earth. 


Pay-roll  Worries  of  Magnitude 

The  cashier's  office  pays  the  salaries  of  the  1 5,000  em- 
ployees of  the  New  York  office,  which  in  the  last  fiscal 
year  amounted  to  $23,594,824.60.  It  also  pays  many 
of  the  employees  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service,  this  sal- 
ary list  for  the  year  totaling  $5,103,717.1 1 ;  also  all  the 
rural  delivery  carriers  in  New  York  State,  their  earn- 
ings being  $3,394,540.56  for  the  year. 

A  feature  of  the  parcel-post  system  is  the  indemnity 
which  is  paid  in  the  case  of  damage  or  loss  to  insured 
parcels.  When  applications  for  indemnities  are  re- 
ceived from  the  public  they  are  investigated  by  the 
Inquiry  Section,  and  when  it  is  determined  that  pay- 
ment should  be  made,  the  cashier's  office  makes  the 
disbursement.  Approximately  200  drafts  are  drawn 
daily  to  cover  these  cases. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  treasury  savings  certifi- 
cates handled  by  the  New  York  office,  which  in  the 
month  of  July  were  sold  to  the  value  of  about  $600,000. 
These  certificates,  as  the  name  indicates,  while  issued 
by  the  Treasury  Department  are  handled  largely  by 
the  Post-office  Department  as  a  convenience  to  the 
public  and  in  the  interest  of  the  government  to  better 
promote  the  sales. 

The  large  amount  of  one  month's  sales  indicates  the 
measure  of  service  thus  provided  and  the  extent  to 
which  it  is  used. 


[78] 


Office  of  the  Auditor 

The  auditor  is  the  checking  officer  of  all  receipts  and 
disbursements  of  the  New  York  post-office.  The  posi- 
tion is  held  by  Mr.  Justus  W.  Salzmann,  another  postal 
veteran,  and  his  corps  audits  the  postal,  money-order, 
and  postal-savings  accounts,  prepares  statements  of 
these  accounts  for  transmission  to  the  comptroller  of 
the  Post-office  Department,  and  verifies  the  money- 
order  and  postal  accounts  of  mail  clerks  in  charge  of 
post-offices  on  naval  vessels.  He  also  audits  the  ac- 
counts of  approximately  1400  post-offices  in  the  State 
of  New  York  known  as  "district  offices,"  of  which  New 
York  City  is  the  Central  Accounting  office,  and  he  cor- 
responds with  the  postmasters  of  these  offices  in  con- 
nection with  the  conduct  of  their  offices. 

The  auditor  also  supervises  the  examination  of  finan- 
cial accounts  at  the  main  office  and  at  all  stations,  made 
by  station  examiners,  corresponds  with  and  prepares 
statements  for  the  Commissioner  of  Pensions  in  con- 
nection with  refunds  under  the  Retirement  Act,  and 
with  the  United  States  Employees'  Compensation  Com- 
mission in  connection  with  injuries  sustained  by  em- 
ployees while  on  duty.  He  has  charge  of  contracts  re- 
quiring expenditures,  as  well  as  correspondence  relating 
to  leases  of  post-office  stations  and  to  repairs  and  addi- 
tional equipment  required  at  these  stations. 

The  organization  of  the  auditor's  office  is  divided 
into  two  sections,  each  under  the  supervision  of  a  book- 
keeper; one  has  charge  of  the  general  accounts  of  the 
New  York  office  and  the  accounts  of  district  post- 
offices;  the  other  has  charge  of  the  auditing  of  the 
money-order  and  postal-savings  accounts,  the  prepara- 

[79] 


tion  and  verification  of  pay-rolls,  and  second-class  and 
permit-matter  accounts. 

The  auditor  has  immediate  charge  of  six  station  ex- 
aminers who  report  on  the  financial  accounts  of  all 
stations;  they  also  investigate  and  report  on  the  need 
for  establishing  and  maintaining  contract  stations  and 
attend  to  complaints  received  concerning  the  operation 
of  such  stations. 

The  auditor,  as  the  checking  officer  of  the  New  York 
post-office,  audits  receipts  and  disbursements  totaling 
over  $700,000,000  annually.  The  postal  receipts  for 
the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  1922,  were  $54,089,023.99, 
as  compared  with  $52,292,433.91  for  the  previous  fiscal 
year,  a  gain  of  $1,796,590.08. 

The  Appointment  Section 

The  Appointment  Section  corresponds  to  a  well-organ- 
ized personnel  bureau  of  a  modern  business  establish- 
ment. This  section  is  under  the  superintendency  of 
Mr.  Peter  Putz.  All  appointees  from  the  Civil  Service 
list  report  to  this  section,  and  from  here  they  are  as- 
signed to  the  various  divisions  and  departments,  ac- 
cording to  the  requirements.  In  a  force  of  1 5,000  men 
there  are,  of  course,  many  changes  daily,  caused  by 
deaths,  resignations,  promotions,  and  demotions. 
Whatever  action  is  involved  in  the  changes  is  taken  by 
the  Appointment  Section.  The  efficiency  records  of  all 
employees  are  filed  here,  and  likewise  the  bonds  cover- 
ing their  financial  responsibility.  From  the  day  a  per- 
son enters  the  service  to  the  time  he  or  she  leaves  it,  a 
record  is  kept  of  all  ratings,  of  qualifications  as  deter- 
mined by  his  superior  officers,  and  of  all  delinquencies. 

[80] 


The  Drafting  Section 

How  diversified  the  requirements  of  the  postal  service 
are  is  illustrated  by  the  work  of  the  Drafting  Section, 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  John  T.  Rathbun,  whose 
corps  of  draftsmen  are  constantly  engaged  in  laying 
out  new  stations,  replotting  equipment  in  different 
units  as  various  changes  incident  to  the  growth  of  the 
city  necessitate,  or  as  changes  in  the  regulations  affect 
the  volume  of  business  at  different  points.  This  sec- 
tion includes  also  a  corps  of  mechanics  engaged  in  the 
repair  and  maintenance  of  mail-handling  apparatus 
and  equipment. 


The  Supply  Department 

The  Supply  Department  of  the  New  York  post-office 
corresponds  to  a  well-equipped  store  and  printing 
establishment.  It  is  under  the  superintendency  of  Mr. 
William  Gibson.  By  this  division  supplies  are  fur- 
nished not  only  to  the  New  York  office  and  its  stations, 
including  those  on  naval  vessels,  but  to  post-offices 
throughout  New  York  State,  as  many  as  2200  points  in 
all  being  cared  for.  Among  the  items  supplied  are 
5,000,000  penalty  envelops  and  1700  different  varieties 
of  forms  and  books,  of  which  approximately  60,000,000 
copies  are  used  annually.  This  department  furnishes 
250  different  items  of  stationery  and  of  janitors'  sup- 
plies, and  innumerable  repair  parts  for  a  great  variety 
of  mechanical  contrivances  used  in  the  postal  system. 
The  aim  of  the  official  in  charge  of  the  department  is 
to  keep  in  touch  with  the  latest  labor-aiding  mechanical 
devices  that  can  be  utilized  in  the  service,  and  among 

[81] 


the  various  bureaus  and  sections  will  be  found  more 
than  300  type-writers,  eighty  adding-machines,  can- 
celling machines,  check-writing,  check-protecting,  ac- 
counting, and  duplicating  machines.  For  these  numer- 
ous repairs  are  required  and  parts  have  to  be  secured, 
all  of  which  is  attended  to  by  this  department. 

A  feature  of  this  department  is  a  well-equipped  print- 
ing section,  which  prints  a  daily  paper  or  bulletin  con- 
taining instructions,  orders,  and  information  for  the 
employees,  as  well  as  numerous  forms,  posters,  plac- 
ards, etc.,  utilizing  in  this  work  a  monotype  type-set- 
ting machine,  two  cylinder  and  five  job  presses.  A 
detail  in  its  workshop  is  the  precancellation  of  postage- 
stamps,  to  meet  the  requirements  of  large  mailers  who 
desire  to  purchase  them,  of  which  the  yearly  output  is 
approximately  250,000,000. 

The  Classification  Section 

In  the  Division  of  Classification  all  questions  involving 
rates  and  conditions  of  mailing  are  passed  upon.  At 
the  head  of  this  section  is  Mr.  Frederick  G.  Mulker, 
whose  experience  with  these  matters  is  probably  un- 
equaled. 

All  applications  for  the  entry  of  publications  as 
"second-class"  matter  are  handled  here,  and  to  this 
bureau  publishers  come  to  arrange  for  the  acceptance 
of  their  magazines  and  papers.  After  a  publication  is 
admitted  to  the  mails  at  the  second-class  rate  its  col- 
umns are  scrutinized  to  detect  anything  that  infringes 
upon  the  regulations,  and  if  anything  is  found,  action 
is  taken  by  this  section.  The  law  defines  various  classes 
of  mail  matter,  and  innumerable  questions  arise  as  to 

[82] 


the  class  in  which  certain  articles  belong,  many  of  the 
questions  being  difficult  of  determination  and  involving 
numerous  technicalities,  but  here,  sooner  or  later,  all 
questions  are  settled. 

It  is  to  this  point,  also,  that  the  public  comes  for  in- 
formation as  to  the  preparation  of  matter  for  the  mails, 
how  it  should  be  wrapped,  addressed,  and  posted;  this 
section  passes  upon  the  mailability  of  matter  under  the 
lottery  laws,  which  cover  everything  relating  to  prize 
schemes,  contests,  competitions,  drawings,  endless- 
chain  schemes,  etc.  Many  are  the  plans  submitted,  and 
while  the  law  is  rigid  in  respect  to  these  matters,  the 
field  is  alluring,  and  each  day  some  novel  proposition 
is  submitted  with  the  hope  that  it  will  not  infringe  the 
law,  yet  be  attractive  to  the  public  through  some  subtle 
appeal  to  its  gambling  proclivity. 

The  Inquiry  Department  , 

This  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  departments  of  any 
post-office.  The  one  at  New  York  is  under  the  super- 
vision of  Mr.  William  T.  Gutgsell,  and  its  functions  are 
many.  It  handles  all  inquiries  for  missing  mail,  and 
during  the  year  ended  June  30,  1922,  this  amounted 
to  243,457.  The  number  of  inquiries,  however,  by  no 
means  equals  the  number  of  letters  and  packages  which 
are  found  to  be  undeliverable.  Undeliverable  mail  is 
disposed  of  by  the  Inquiry  Section,  and  the  magnitude 
of  its  work  may  be  appreciated  from  the  fact  that  no 
fewer  than  1 50,000  letters  were  mailed  without  postage 
during  the  year.  Among  the  other  items  that  loom 
large  in  the  report  of  the  Inquiry  Department  is  the 
number  of  letters  directed  to  hotels  which  were  not 

[83] 


claimed  by  the  addressees.  Of  these  there  were  1,200,- 
ooo ;  18,000  parcels  of  fourth-class  matter  were  found 
without  address,  the  delivery  of  which  could  not  be 
effected,  and  56,000  pieces  of  unaddressed  matter  were 
restored  to  the  owners.  In  former  years  all  letters  and 
packages  of  value  found  to  be  undeliverable  through- 
out the  country  and  not  provided  with  the  cards  of  the 
senders  were  forwarded  to  the  Division  of  Dead  Let- 
ters at  Washington,  but  on  January  i,  1917,  branch 
dead-letter  offices  were  established  at  New  York,  Chi- 
cago, and  San  Francisco.  The  branch  at  New  York  is 
conducted  by  the  Inquiry  Section,  and  its  work  con- 
cerns Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  York,  5074  offices 
being  included.  From  this  area  last  year  there  were 
received  3,518,604  pieces  of  undeliverable  matter  of 
domestic  origin.  A  very  large  part  of  this  mail  had 
to  be  opened  in  order  that  restoration  to  the  owners 
could  be  effected.  Many  of  the  letters,  etc.,  were  found 
to  contain  valuable  enclosures,  as  indicated  by  this 
tabulation : 

OPENED  DEAD  MAIL  WITH  VALUABLE 
ENCLOSURES 

Number  Amount 

Money 10,352  . .  $   27,559-93 

Drafts,  checks,  money-orders,  etc. .  35,178  ..  2,528,844.19 
Postage-stamps    98,413  . .         4,641.67 

Many  letters  found  to  contain  drafts,  checks,  money- 
orders,  etc.,  are  restored  to  the  owners,  for  if  the  con- 
tents do  not  themselves  disclose  the  address  of  the 
owners,  the  banks  upon  which  the  checks  are  drawn  are 
communicated  with  to  secure  the  information  desired. 

[84] 


The  Inquiry  Department  includes  the  Indemnity 
Bureau,  which  reviews,  adjusts,  and  pays  claims  in- 
volving loss  or  damage  to  insured  or  C.  O.  D.  parcels. 
Of  these  claims  112,432  were  filed  during  the  last 
fiscal  year,  and  the  amount  paid  on  the  claims  was 
$544,314.46. 

Another  bureau  of  this  department  is  charged  with 
the  duty  of  examining  all  misdirected  letters  and  par- 
cels which  cannot  be  distributed  or  delivered  by  the 
employees  regularly  engaged  in  sorting  the  mails.  The 
carelessness  of  the  public  in  the  matter  of  addressing 
mail  is  apparent  from  the  statistics  of  this  bureau  for 
the  year  just  passed,  which  show  that  it  handled 
1,576,366  letters  with  the  very  creditable  result  that  of 
this  number  it  succeeded  in  correcting  and  forwarding 
686,233,  from  which  it  is  evident  that  the  post-office 
took  more  pains  than  did  the  senders.  Of  the  number 
handled  it  also  restored  to  the  senders  approximately 
424,000. 

Order  and  Instruction  Section 

This  department  is  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Ed- 
ward R.  McAlarney  and  is  maintained  for  the  issuance 
of  various  bulletins  of  information,  public  announce- 
ments, news  items,  and  the  circulation  through  official 
publications  of  instructions,  orders,  and  intelligence  re- 
garding postal  matters.  It  is  "the  office  of  publication" 
to  the  post-office;  it  issues  posters,  bulletins,  news  of 
the  service,  notices  announcing  the  change  in  rates  and 
conditions,  the  sailing  and  arriving  of  ships,  changes  in 
time  of  despatch  and  routing  of  the  mail,  etc.  It  is  a 
busy  department  and  the  magnitude  of  its  service  cor- 
responds to  the  great  volume  of  work  that  it  performs. 

[85] 


The  Examination  Section 
How  THE  EMPLOYEES  ARE  TRAINED 

A  survey  of  the  post-office  quickly  illustrates  the  fact 
that  it  could  only  be  successfully  conducted  by  the 
agency  of  skilled  employees,  especially  trained  for  the 
work.  The  distribution  of  the  mail  is  dependent  upon 
employees  who  certainly  must  closely  apply  themselves 
to  the  mastery  of  the  schemes  of  separation,  and  we 
should  imagine  that  these  are  rather  tedious  to  study, 
for  it  seems  to  be  largely  a  matter  of  "grind"  and  mem- 
ory taxation  regarding  absolutely  unrelated  names  and 
places,  times  of  train  departures,  etc.  It  is  a  work  to 
which  men  must  devote  a  good  part  of  their  lives  and 
must  have  constant  practice  in  order  to  maintain  speed, 
and  the  duty  of  standing  eight  hours  a  day  in  front  of 
a  case  and  boxing  letters  by  the  thousand,  year  in  and 
year  out,  must  sometimes  be  closely  akin  to  drudgery. 
To  add  to  the  difficulties  of  these  men  there  are  con- 
stant changes  in  the  list  of  post-offices,  in  the  time- 
tables, etc.,  so  that  a  scheme  of  separation  is  no  sooner 
mastered  than  it  is  necessary  to  memorize  new  changes. 
A  department  devoted  to  the  training  of  the  em- 
ployees engaged  in  this  work  is  known  as  the  "Exami- 
nation Section,"  and  is  under  the  supervision  of  Mr. 
H.  S.  McLean.  As  soon  as  a  substitute  is  appointed 
he  is  sent  to  this  section,  where  he  is  drilled  in  the  fun- 
damentals, in  the  rules  and  regulations,  and  in  proper 
methods  of  performing  the  duties  ordinarily  performed 
by  new  employees.  Later  the  employees  are  gradu- 
ated to  practical  work,  and  are  assigned  certain  schemes 
to  study  on  which  they  are  examined  from  time  to 
time  and  required  to  attain  a  certain  standard  of  pro- 

[86] 


ficiency  to  justify  their  retention  and  advancement  in 
the  service.  In  the  examinations,  which  continue  as 
long  as  the  employees  are  engaged  in  the  distribution 
of  mail,  they  are  tested  not  only  as  to  accuracy  but  as 
to  speed,  and  if  an  employee  fails  to  maintain  the 
required  efficiency,  demotion  follows. 

A  feature  of  the  work  is  the  endeavor  to  impress 
upon  the  employee  the  importance  of  his  employment, 
the  necessity  for  devoting  to  it  his  best  efforts  and  of 
not  only  maintaining  but  improving  the  standard. 

The  following  statistics  in  a  way  show  the  extent  of 
this  work : 

Number  of  regular  clerks  subject  to  examination 5,956 

Approximate  number  of  substitute  clerks  subject  to 

examinations    2,000 

Total   7,956 

Number   of  examination   schemes   issued   to   regular 
clerks  subject  to  examination 10,05 l 

Approximate  number  of  examination  schemes  issued  to 

substitute  clerks  subject  to  examinations 2,000 

Total 12,051 

Number  of  examinations  conducted  July  i,   1921,  to 

June  30,  1922 1 5,140 

Number  of  cards  handled  in  conducting  case  examina- 
tions   12,334,812 

Average  case  examinations,  daily 50 

Number  of  clerks  instructed  in  post-office  duties  July  i, 

1921,  to  June  30,  1922  4,636 

Average  instructions,  daily 16 

Number  of  study  schemes  in  use  in  Examination  Section  1 19 

which  are  divided  into  examination  sections 140 

Mail  schedule 4 

divided  into  examination  sections 26 

Number  of  schemes  examined  July  i,  1921,  to  June 

30,  1922 564 

[87] 


Welfare  Work  in  New  York 

In  the  New  York  post-office  there  is  a  Welfare  Council, 
which  consists  of  representatives  elected  by  the  clerks, 
carriers,  laborers,  motor-vehicle  employees,  and  super- 
visors. This  council  considers  all  matters  pertaining  to 
the  welfare  of  the  employees  and  makes  recommenda- 
tions in  regard  to  them  to  the  postmaster. 

At  the  General  Post-office  there  has  been  established 
a  clinic  of  the  Government  Health  Service.  This  clinic 
is  equipped  with  an  operating  table,  surgical  instru- 
ments and  supplies,  two  cots,  and  the  other  appurte- 
nances of  a  first-class  dispensary.  Three  doctors  and 
three  nurses  are  in  attendance.  The  clinic  is  open 
throughout  the  twenty-four  hours  with  the  exception 
of  a  short  interval  at  night.  Approximately  fifty  pa- 
tients are  treated  each  day  and  without  charge. 

The  employees  also  own  and  operate  a  cooperative 
store  and  cafeteria  in  the  general  office,  and  among  the 
terminals  and  stations  there  are  numerous  other  similar 
undertakings. 

The  employees  also  maintain  numerous  associations 
formed  to  better  their  conditions.  Several  of  these  in- 
clude sick  benefits,  insurance  features,  etc.  Some  of 
these  organizations  are  of  national  extent,  others  are 
local;  every  station  and  department  has  its  own  asso- 
ciation or  associations  in  addition  to  the  major  organi- 
zations of  large  membership. 

At  the  newer  stations  well-equipped  and  well-lighted 
"swing  rooms"  are  provided.  These  are  utilized  by  the 
men  during  their  lunch  periods  and  by  the  employees 
who  are  awaiting  the  time  to  go  on  duty. 


[88] 


The  Manufacturers  Trust  Company     , 

Cordially  invites  the  officials  and  em- 
ployees of  the  United  States  Postal 
System,  wherever  located,  to  make  use  of 
its  facilities  and  services,  whenever  their 
interests  may  thus  be  advanced. 

This  Company  conducts  eight  banking 
offices,  at  convenient  locations  throughout 
the  City  of  New  York,  and  at  each  of 
these  offices  it  cares  for  the  needs  of  its 
customers  in  every  department  of  com- 
mercial, investment,  and  thrift  banking. 

Our  officers  welcome  opportunities  to 
be  of  service,  or  to  advise  with  you  re- 
garding your  banking  needs. 

NATHAN  S.  JONAS, 
President. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


LD 


Wt 


I  1936 


APR  111941  M 


REC'D 


131! 
JUN  271946  teC5-'65-SPt* 


NOV    4 


LOAN  DEPT 


RECEiE 


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LOAN  DEPT. 


LD  21-100m-7,'33 


518«, 


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